The King and Princes of Gotham
by OnceUponATimeInRiverdale
Summary: AU. Bruce is the ruler of the kingdom of Gotham. And he secretly dons the alias as The Batman at night to protect his people from monsters and criminals that torture his kingdom at night. But now Bruce will have to share his secret with his son's Dick, Tim and Damian when a mysterious green haired criminal kidnaps his wayward son, Jason, to use as against The Batman.
1. Chapter One

_**More Batman and Jason Todd fanfiction. Why? Because I love writing, that's why. Hoope you enjoy this one.**_

* * *

The kingdom of Gotham. The beautiful kingdom and village that was home to so many people. Everyone loved living in such a beautiful kingdom that had many opportunities. By day, it was filled with heartfelt festivals, many many dances. But by night, the beautiful kingdom became something of nightmare. People fled to go inside their homes as monsters roamed the streets and their masters wrecked havoc on the streets of the kingdom. The Gotham Knights tried their hardest to stop the monsters and be rid them from their gorgeous kingdom. But nothing worked.

The monsters would kill the knights or turn them into monsters like them. The people of the kingdom began to fear that the nights would always be dangerous and that their kingdom would never be safe again. The villagers and townsfolk begged their king to do something. To help them and get rid of the monsters that ran their streets at night. The king went out one night... and he never came back. The only thing that did come was the king's severed head.

Leaving the queen and the prince all alone. The queen even tried to stop the monsters on her own. She too was returned with a severed head. And the young prince was left all alone. To try and help his kingdom. His name was Prince Bruce. Prince Bruce. And he made a promise to not let his people down. Ever. For his murdered mother and father.

* * *

The day started in the kingdom of Gotham with the rise of the large, golden sun. The sun was so brightening that almost everyone awoke at the exact same time. Even the royals inside the large Wayne palace. The sun shone inside the windows and shone brightly on the eyes of one of the princes.

Bruce could never find it inside his heart to love another woman. He could find it inside after the bloody murder of his mother and father. He didn't want the love of a princess or queen. But he did find the love in his heart to have children. So while Bruce was still a young king, he adopted many young boys like his own children. He first adopted a young boy named Richard Grayson. He was an acrobat in a traveling festival, who's parents were too murdered by the monsters that haunt the streets at night. Richard easily fell in love with the idea of Bruce being his father and he became a prince. His only condition is that he preferred to be called Dick, not Richard.

After adopting Dick, Bruce adopted another child. A troubled boy named Jason Todd. Jason was a sweet child from a terrible home. Jason was beaten constintly by his father, who is now serving punishment in the Gotham dungeons, and he was even sold to one of the master's of the monsters to become a sex slave. Bruce rescued him and took him to the palace to raise as his own. Jason was always skeptical about becoming a prince and the new son to someone that would beat him. He still rarely trusts anyone and he has a hard time around the palace. But Bruce has anything but doubt that his son will open up his walls and welcome the new father and brother.

Then Bruce adopted another young boy named Tim Drake. Tim had a great life growing up, much to Jason's disapproval, and he was on the way to move to another kingdom to marry a lady. But his parents were murdered by monsters and his soon to be bride was sold as a sex slave, like how Jason was supposed to. Tim came to the king, begging to his help and for justice for his murdered parents. Bruce adopted him and Tim was grateful to for a new family. Tim loved living with the new family and becoming a prince.

And last up was Bruce's actual son, Damian. Bruce had made mistakes when he was first mourning his parents and he impregnated a dear friend of his. She ended up having the baby and she gave him to Bruce when he was young. Bruce was surpised at the sight of a son that was his own flesh and blood, but he continued to raise him. Everyone was open to the new child, except for Jason, and they loved him like their other brother.

Bruce had a family and he loved them like he loved his kingdom.

The sun hit the king's eyes, immediately waking him up from his slumber. Bruce smiled and he sat up from his huge bed. Today... today was going to be a great day. For him, his son's (Jason probably not) and for the entire kingdom. For a huge coronation is planned. For none other than Jason. Jason was the only one of his son's that had hadn't had his coronation as an official prince yet. He refused to. Bruce wasn't surprised when Jason refused. Because he still didn't full trust Bruce. Or his brothers. Abuse surely did a number on him.

But Bruce was patient with him. And his patience surely worked out because Jason finally agreed to have a coronation as an official prince of the kingdom. Bruce smiled and he looked out his huge window that looked down to his gardens and his kingdom. Sure enough, his people and his servants were already working hard on setting up the coronation. There were red roses and red carnations, Jason's favorite color and flower, being set up all around the gardens where the stands and thrones would be.

Bruce walked over to his wardrobe and threw on one of his silk robes. Today was a special day. Finally he and his son would be complete and he would have a complete family. Bruce heard his bedroom door open and he was welcomed by his usual servant. Well, he could hardly be called a servant. He was like family. "Good morning Alfred." Bruce welcomed with a smile.

"Good morning Master Bruce." the older man welcome, holding out a tray of hot tea.

Bruce smiled and took the porcelain cup from Alfred's tray. He took a slow sip of the hot liquid and allowed it to warm him up. "Are the boys awake?" Bruce asked, holding the tea cup in his hands.

"Yes my king." Alfred said, setting down the tray on one of Bruce's pieces of furniture. "They're currently preparing for breakfast in the dining room."

"And Jason?"

"Prince Jason is out on his balcony." Alfred replied with a warm smile.

"What is he doing out on his balcony?" Bruce asked. "Shouldn't he be preparing for his coronation?"

"In my defense my king, Prince Jason always seems to be one to be on his own and thinking up a storm. To me it looks like he just needs a moment to himself. Or maybe a moment with his father."

Bruce smiled at the old man as he placed his tea down. "Tell the boys to prepare for the ceremony. I'm going to go speak with Jason."

Alfred and nodded and watched as his king walked out of his bedroom and down towards his son's bedroom. When Bruce had first adopted (took over the care of for Damian) his son's, their rooms were on the same floor of his just in case anything happened to them with the monsters or if they had nightmares. It was like that for the rest of his son's, except for Jason. Jason refused to sleep in the same floor of Bruce. Jason was so scared of him and everything going on around him that he stayed on a different floor. Bruce didn't mind it much, as long as Jason felt happy and safe.

Bruce made his way down the stairs of his large and lavish palace to the floor below him, where Jason's bedroom was. Bruce passed by a few of his servants, who were preparing for the coronation, as he made his way to Jason's bedroom. Bruce lightly knocked on the mahogany wood door. There was no response, which he never ever expected from Jason when he knocked. He usually ignored it and waited for whoever the hell came inside. Bruce sighed with a smile and he walked inside his son's bedroom. Jason never was really one to decorate. His bedroom looked exactly how it did when he had first arrived at the Wayne palace. The only thing that was distinguishable from Jason's room and the different rooms was that his bed sheets and blankets were a dark red and that there were stacks of books that he had probably read a billion times.

Bruce smiled and he saw his son, shirtless and in his silk pajama pants, on his balcony. He looked like he was focused on something. Bruce approached his son with a smile. "Good morning Jason." Bruce said.

As Bruce got closer to the balcony he saw that Jason was holding a piece of paper. Probably his speech for the coronation. Bruce smiled.

"Your brothers are downstairs waiting for you." Bruce said.

"No one told them to wait for me in the first place." Jason said, not looking up from his speech. "They can eat without me."

"But it's your day. You waited for them on their coronation days. You even spent the entire day with Dick on his coronation."

"Well yeah. I was being nice." Jason replied, setting down his paper and walking off the balcony. Bruce sighed and he looked down at his servants setting up a large flower arch that would rest on top of the stage where Jason were be coronated. Bruce knew how difficult Jason could be. Sometimes he was nice and smiley. But that was a rare time. Jason was always upset with someone and himself. He hated everything. Bruce often blamed his father for abusing him and making Jason like this, but he often chose to leave the boy alone. Jason could make his own choices.

Bruce followed Jason with his body his with own, without following him. "Are you nervous Jason?"

Jason sat down on his bed and he clasped his hands down in front of him. Jason seemed really down that day, and Bruce knew. He was often down but never in a situation like this. Why was Jason so upset and sad right now? Bruce always over to him and looked down at his son. "Jason?" Bruce said. "What are you thinking about?"

"The vigilante." Jason said.

Bruce smiled a bit and he crossed his arms. Of course Jason was thinking of him.

Ever since Bruce became the king of Gotham, there was a black wearing vigilante knight that started to stroll and patrol the streets of the kingdom. People said that he was as black as the night and as fast as a bat. They started calling him The Batman. And he was said to be so strong and fast to have been able to kill multiple monsters and even capture their masters. He was deemed as a hero to the village. Bruce should know.

Because he was the Batman.

He choose to become a black armor wearing knight vigilante to stop the monsters that killed his parents, Dick's parents and so many of innocent people. Bruce donned the night black armor, cape and he fought those monsters with his bare hands.

Bruce shook his head at his son. "Do you have something against the Batman?" he asked.

"I should be asking you that question." Jason said. "You're the one that made him illegal in the kingdom."

Jason wasn't lying. He had in fact made himself illegal. But that was only to take the heat away from him. Bruce knew that if anyone knew the identity of The Batman, then not only he as the king would be out in danger, but his son's would be as well. "Jason... you know how I feel about him." Bruce said, turning his head to the side a bit. "This man can't be trusted. He might just be killing the monsters because he himself is a monster."

"You don't know that Bruce." Jason argued. "He could just be trying to clean up the kingdom and kill the beasts that killed have of the kingdoms villagers."

"Jason-"

Jason got up from his bed, cutting Bruce off. "Look... I don't want to argue about this. Especially not today. I have to much on my mind already."

"Jason-"

"Tell everyone they can start eating without me."

Jason shook his head as he left his bedroom, still shirtless wearing his pajama pants. Bruce sighed. He hated being a war with Jason. Jason was such a kind kid. He was nice to everyone he came across, except his brothers, and Bruce hated when he was at war with him. He hated it. Bruce wiped his nose and he looked back out at the gardens as his servants begun to add seating. Today was about Jason becoming an official prince. He didn't want to ruin Jason's day.

Bruce left his bedroom to start and prepare for the afternoon's ceremony.

* * *

Hours passed at the gardens were finally set up for the coronation. It was set up with red roses and carnations, Jason's favorite color and flowers, and golden chairs. It was something that should make the young man very happy. Bruce dressed very quickly in an appropriate outfit for a ball or any event for a king. Bruce placed on the golden crown with jewels that matched his dark red cap and buttoned shirt. He walked with his usual guards to meet his son's near the palace's entrance. His son's were all dressed in similar red, gold and black that Jason approved for his ceremony. Their crowns matched Bruce's, since they had already had their coronations.

"Leave us." Bruce said as soon as he and his son's were close enough. "Scale the palace, make sure that everything is set in place."

The guards bowed before their king and then they left as Bruce had instructed. Bruce looked back at his three other sons and smiled. "Sorry I couldn't meet you for breakfast." Bruce said with a weak smile. "I had a few things to take care of before Jason's coronation."

"Well at least he's finally to be coronated." Tim said, adjusting the cuffs of his buttoned top.

"How is he?" Dick asked.

Dick and Jason were never the closest when Bruce had first adopted Jason. Jason thought that Dick hated him, which he did. But as they later met one another, they became close. Dick was always the most worried for Jason because he seemed to love him the most. Jason might never call Dick, Tim or Damian his brothers, but Dick knew that Jason was his brother. "He's... He's Jason." Bruce responded.

"He's probably just nervous Grayson." Damian said, patting Dick's elbow since he was the youngest and not that tall. "Give him until after the ceremony. He'll be the chatterbox that he his when he thinks no one is around."

Dick smiled and he one armed hugged his little brother. Bruce smiled. These three were so close to one another and they had a nice connection. But not Jason. Jason only had a real connection with Dick, but he barely talked to him enough at is it. Bruce hated that Jason was always alone, but sometimes talking to someone that wished to be alone always made it worse. Bruce cleared his throat and he looked out the window. "The carriage should be here soon." Bruce said. "Let's hurry."

"You should go ahead." Dick said. "I'm going to see if I can talk to Jason for a moment."

"I'll the carriage for as long as I can. It will be easy since we're only riding towards the gardens." Tim said, patting his brother's shoulder much to Bruce's delight. "Be out soon. You know Jason."

Dick nodded and he started to hurry as fast as he could in his outfit and crown. Of course, he found Jason in one place where he waited for his own coronation to start. Dick had chosen the color blue for his coronation and it made Dick smile to see Jason in his favorite shade of red. Jason was looking out the window of the room that showed the gardens and the set up ceremony. "You nervous?" Dick asked, approaching his brother dressed in the thick cape and royal suit.

Jason didn't look at him. He just kept staring out the window. He held his hands behind him as he looked. "A prince hm?" Jason said. "I'm about to be a prince."

"You've always been a prince Jay."

"No Dick. I've always been a young boy living in the dirtiest parts of the village that got beaten by his father."

Dick always hated how Jason used to be beaten by a man that had the nerves to he called Jason's father. He hated it. Dick moved forward in front of Jason so that he was visible to his brother. "That man is _not_ your father." Dick said.

"Well neither is Bruce if you really think about it." Jason said, walking away from Dick and dragging his cape along with him.

"Jason he loves you."

Jason shook his head as he adjusted his hair. "Dick... you should go. You don't want to miss your carriage."

"Jason-"

"Just go Dick." Jason yelled looking out the window on his opposite side. "Just go."

Dick wanted to move and comfort his brother. But he knew that it would just make things worse for him. Worse for his relationship with Jason. Dick curled his hand away after reaching for him and he turned to him. "I'll... I'll see you at the coronation."

Jason didn't respond. He just stared back out the window. Dick adjusted his crown and he walked away from his brother and towards the exit of the kingdom. Jason sighed and he looked back out the window of the palace. Jason stayed there for a few moments and he watched the carriage that was holding his brothers and adopted father towards the gardens where the ceremony would be held. "Your highness?" called the voice of a guard.

Jason turned around and faced the guard, who was flanked by three others. They had the mark of the Wayne family on their chest plates and capes. "Are you ready to escorted to your coronation?"

Jason gave the guards a weak smile because they didn't deserve his anger and attitude. "Yes." he said as a response. "Yes, I'm ready."

Jason adjusted his thick cape one last time and he walked up to the guards that would lead him towards his ceremony.

* * *

Bruce and his son's took a carriage to their own gardens for the ceremony because it was a tradition for the family to arrive in a carriage. Bruce could see the many people seated in the chairs and many villagers cheering for their king and princes. It made him smile to how much his people loved him. When the carriage came to a complete stop, the door was opened why one of the servants. Bruce walked out first onto the pebbly ground and he waved at his subjects. The boys went outside afterwards and they waved at everyone else at well. Bruce made his way down the path and to the stage where the coronation would take place.

Dick led Tim and Damian down to the side of the stage where they could stand and observe the coronation, just like the other coronations that they had attended. Bruce stood up to the minister that would perform the coronation and shook his hand. "Thank you so much for doing this." Bruce whispered as the crowd started to quiet down and take their seats.

"You do not need to thank me your highness." the minister said, bowing before his king and his princes. "It is an honor to perform this coronation for your sons."

Bruce heard the sounds of the drums of the band and he moved out of the way to stand next to the minister. The drums started to play along with the violins and everyone turned to see their prince. Jason stood in the middle of the aisle, holding his gloved hands in front of him. Bruce smiled. He looked like he had changed from the young man that had been beaten by his biological father and sold by him to be a sex slave of a monster's master. Bruce was proud of how much he changed.

The flutes started to play and Jason slowly started to walk down the aisle. Like a bride getting married. The audience smiled and watched as he walked down the aisle and walked towards the minister, his adopted fathers and brothers. Jason walked up the small steps of the stage and approached the minister. Jason bowed before him, like he had practiced for the past month. "Today-" the minister yelled out with a smile. "Today marks the day that this young man, the adopted son of King Bruce Wayne, Prince Jason Peter Todd will officially become one of the prince's of the kingdom of Gotham."

The audience started to clap making Jason give them all a weak smile and wave. Jason just wanted to get this ceremony over with. Jason looked back at the minister, who was turning around and grabbing the golden globus curciger and scepter that was laying on a velvet pillow. "Your highness, please remove your gloves so we can continue the coronation.

Jason nodded and he pulled off the gloves on his hands. He looked over at Bruce and handed them to him. Bruce took them and held onto them with a tight grasp. Jason looked over at the minister and took the scepter in one hand and the golden globe in the other. "You may now make your speech." Bruce said, holding his head high with a smile.

Jason turned to face the audience of the coronation with a weak and obviously fake smile on his face. "I, Prince Jason Peter Todd, accept the official title of a prince of Gotham. With this title, I will bring you hope, safety and protection from the monsters that haunt the streets of this kingdom when the sun falls. I, Prince Jason Todd, vow to protect you all with my life and do my best to find out who is sending these beasts. I, with this title, will be the best prince of Gotham that I can be."

Bruce smiled. Jason surely was something on the inside.

"Do you Jason Peter Todd-" the minister asked with a wide smile. "Take this title as a prince of Gotham?"

"I do." Jason replied.

"Do you vow to always think of your people before your self?"

"I do."

"And do you vow to be loyal to your family until death or exile parts you?"

"... I do."

"People of the kingdom of Gotham, please welcome your fourth prince of Gotham. Prince Jason Peter Todd."

The crowd started to cheer and clap for Jason. The minister held up a golden crown that was similar to his brother's and father's. Jason held his head down and allowed the crown to be place upon his hair. Jason quickly snatched his gloves back from Bruce without looking at him as he smiled at the people in front of him. Jason smiled at his people as his brothers clapped happily at him. Bruce moved to pat his son's shoulder went a cold gust of wind ran through the gardens. Petals of the red flowers started to fly everywhere. Bruce started to tense up, sensing that something was wrong. It was the middle of the summer. A cold gust of strong wind was anything but normal in the summer.

Dick and Tim moved to stand in front of Damian protectively as the people in their seats and in the crowds started to murmur about what the hell might happening. Bruce moved forward to put an arm over Jason. Bruce locked eyes with one of the guards, who looked just as dumbfounded as everyone else. "Get everyone inside the ballroom. Now!" he ordered.

Before the guards could even do anything, the winds got stronger. Bruce held onto Jason's elbow as he grabbed a sword that he had attached to his belt. He held it up towards any danger that might be coming. Sure enough, there was danger. One of the beasts that rolled around the village streets at night jumped out of the bushes of the garden. There were many different beasts, but this beast looked almost like an evil dragon, with it's dark maroon scaly skin, yellow cat like eyes and long wings. The dragon beast indeed had a rider, dressed in a bright purple armor that made him more noticeable on the dragon. The beast roared loudly, making everyone except Bruce hold their ears. Two more beasts jumped out of the bushes with different riders on the top and multiple men standing near the beasts with armor covering their face. The leader of these men must have been in the one in purple that jumped out first.

Bruce looked around and everyone that was looking scared and afraid of the three beasts. "Leave now!" Bruce yelled out at them. "Leave now and your punishment will not be as sever as ruining the ceremony."

The leader of this men pulled off the armor that covered his head. His hair was a bright green and his skin was as pale as white. It was horrifying. Jason moved forward a bit, trying to get a sight at him but Bruce held him tightly to try and protect him. The man with green hair and white skin smiled widely at the king. He moved his head back and waved his hand. Bruce had no idea how to react to what he happened. The men threw small sacks filled with a green powder over and it started to spread in a thick fog. People started to scream and cough, before falling down to the ground. Bruce turned over and grabbed Jason's shoulder. "Run!" he yelled, pushing his son over towards the stage's exit.

Dick and Tim helped to get Damian out of the stage and towards the carriage. But the fog started to spread fast and it was too thick. Dick, Tim and Damian had no source of escape as the fog made their way inside their lungs. Dick gripped his youngest brother as the two fell down to the ground unconscious along with Tim and everyone else around them. Bruce needed to get to his other son's. He tried to pull Jason with him so that he could rescue his son's. But one of the dragon like beasts flew down in front of the king and new appointed prince. The dragon roared loudly in Bruce's face, making him immediately shield Jason away from it.

It's rider, the green haired and pale skinned man, laughed loudly as Bruce shielded the young man. Jason was dressed way too fancy to run away with his cape, crown and suit. Bruce the same way. Running couldn't be an option and they would eventually get caught. The rider smiled and he slid off his saddle before patting his dragon monster's head. As he jumped down, the dragon started to slowly growl and creep towards Bruce and Jason. Bruce kept Jason behind him and he held his elbow protectively. The dragon monster roared and he slapped Bruce away from Jason. Bruce flew off the stage and crashed into one of the many rows of the chairs. Bruce groaned in the pain, his back was on fire.

"Bruce!" Jason yelled, starting to turn and run over to help the king that gave him a home. But the green haired man stood in front of Jason ominously. Jason slowly started to creep back from him as he got closer to him. Bruce tried to get up but his back seemed to be so close to breaking. The fog closed in on him and he was fighting against going unconscious. Jason tripped over his large cape and he fell backwards. The green haired man laughed loudly as Jason tried to get away from him and his dragon like monster. The man then grabbed Jason by his neck, choking him and making him scream.

"Ja- *cough*" Bruce tried to call, but he couldn't as the fog made it into his lungs. "Ja... Jas...on-"

Jason screamed as the green haired man pulled him off the ground and into his grasp. Almost as if he was flying, the kidnapper jumped up onto the saddle of his monster with Jason in tow. "Let's go boys!" the yelled, snapping the reins of the dragon. The monster started to flap his wings and it took off into the sky. Jason was screaming loudly as this man with skin whiter than the marble in the palace was taking him and hauling him up to the sky. Bruce looked up and saw the dragon start to fly off. It was obvious that it was Jason in tow, because his red cape was flapping from the edge of the dragon.

The gas finally made his way into Bruce's lungs and he hung his bed back before closing his eyes.

* * *

 _ **I love AU's with princes, kings, kingdoms and dragons. Don't know why, but I love it. Blame it on my childhood of Disney movies. But, please let me know how you like it and follow, favorite and review.**_


	2. Chapter Two

Consciousness slowly returned to the king. Bruce had no idea what was going on around him, but he knew that something must have been wrong. Because he didn't remember going to sleep the night before. Bruce groaned, feeling a pain in his head and neck. He moved his hand and pressed his hand on his temples. Where was he and what was going on? The king started to move to sit up from the pillows behind him, but felt a comforting hand try to press him down. "Relax you highness." said the familiar voice.

Bruce looked over at his palace physician, Leslie, who was smiling down at her king. "Les...Leslie?" Bruce said, wincing from the pain in his back.

"Your back was injured in the attack." Leslie said, snapping her fingers over a person near the door. It was Alfred. Alfred approached Bruce with a cup of tea, because what else would Alfred give the young king. Alfred handed Bruce the cup and he immediately sipped the liquid that would help his pain. Bruce looked out the window, wondering what time it was and where it possibly had went. The bright blue sky from before was gone and replaced with a rainy, stormy night sky. Rain splattered and pattered against his window, making him feel just a bit worse from the pain and the confusion going on around him. "It seems like your spine was cracked in the accident." said Leslie, rubbing her finger on his shoulder blades to comofrt the pain. "It'll take some time before your back will be fully healed."

Suddenly, the thoughts came back to Bruce. The coronation. Jason seeming on edge. The cold gush of wind. The monsters. Jason. Bruce sat up immediately, the pain is back suddenly gone. Alfred and Leslie jumped back a bit seeing the king trying to get up from his bed. "I didn't expect the painkillers to work as fast." he said, looking at the palace's confused and worried physician.

"Where are the boys?!" Bruce asked, trying to get up to see his son's. "Where are the princes?"

"My king-" Alfred said, trying to calm him down. "Prince Dick, Tim and Damian are in their rooms."

"Are they hurt?"

"No, my king." Leslie said, grabbing his empty tea cup before it fell. "They're just tired and very disoriented."

"You said Dick, Tim and Damian. Where's Jason?"

Leslie looked over at Alfred with a scared and worried look on both of their faces. Bruce started to tense up. Something was going on. What the hell was going on? Where was Jason? Did the guards get to him? Bruce stood up from the bed, moving to hold onto the bed post since his body was still weak from his injured back and headache. Alfred moved over to help his king stand up. "Your highness you are still weak from the-"

Bruce cut off Leslie immediately, the worry for his son growing as no one would tell him what the hell was happening and where the hell was Jason. "Leslie... where is Jason?"

Leslie sighed and she placed the tea cup on Bruce's bedside table. "There was a group of monsters that attacked the coronation. There was a kind of green powder that made the entire audience, including you and the princes fall unconscious. According to the guards that escaped the gas and managed to get to you, the leader of the beasts took Jason."

"Have they managed to locate him?" Bruce said, moving over to try and get to his other sons.

"Your majesty, please have a seat. Calm down, you need to rest." Alfred said, trying to set the young king down and have him heal.

"No old friend. Please let me see my son's. See my guards. I have to find Jason." Bruce pushed himself off of Alfred and he slowly started to make his way into the hallway of the palace. A few of the guards standing by the door dropped their spears and helped the king stand properly.

"Your majesty please be reasonable." called Leslie as he pushed her thin gown around to catch up with the king.

The king held his hand up at the physician and shook her away. He turned to his guards and shook them off. He walked as quick as he could towards Dick's room, which was the closest to his own bedroom. The guards by the door moved automatically at the sight of their king. Bruce pushed the door opened and he saw Dick pacing across him room. He looked obviously worried and scared at the same time. "Dick." Bruce called, turning over to get closer to him.

Dick turned over to his father and he sighed, relaxing in his presence. He moved over to him, clutching his elbows tightly. "Tell me that they didn't get to them." he said, begging. "No one is telling me anything and they wouldn't even let me leave my bedroom. Where are my brothers Bruce, I'm scared."

Bruce sighed and he pulled his eldest adopted son in an embrace. Dick started to shake, his worry growing. Why would Bruce be hugging him... unless something happened to his brothers. Oh no. Dick hugged Bruce back as he shuddered. "Dick, don't be scared. Tim and Damian are fine. They're in their rooms." Bruce whispered.

Dick let out a huge sigh of relief, relaxing in the king's arm. His brother's were safe. But after a few moments of hugging, thoughts came barreling back to Dick. Bruce had only said that Tim and Damian were in their rooms. Only Tim and Damian. But what about Jason? What happened to his brother after the beasts attacked? Dick moved up and out of Bruce's hug. He held one hand up with a raised eyebrow at the king in front of him.

"Where's Jason?" he asked. "Did he manage to escape?"

"Dick... the guards informed me that Jason was taken by the... the leader of the monsters." Bruce said.

"Then what are you doing to get him back? Have you sent guards after him, sent armies?! What are you doing to get Jay back?"

"Everything that I can."

"Bruce... you need to call that knight." Dick said, walking away from him backwards to get to his wardrobe.

"Dick, I do not know if I can trust that man. He might just end up being another monster's master." Bruce retorted for the time being, knowing that he couldn't just yet tell his son about his secret identity. "He could be a danger to us and the kingdom."

"But maybe he's not a danger to the kingdom. Maybe he's trying to clean up the village streets at night. He could help us find Jason. Find the green haired man that took him!"

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." Bruce said with a calm voice.

The door opened and the two other princes walked inside the room. Dick smiled at the sight of them and he ran to them. Tim crushed Dick into a hug as Damian went over to his father and hugged him. Bruce hugged him back as he looked over at his older children as they started to speak. "Where's Jason?" Tim asked Dick desperately. "The guards wouldn't tell me a thing about you or Damian. He's the only one not here, is he okay?"

Dick shook his head as Damian hugged him. "The green haired man on the beast took him." he said.

"Will Todd be okay?" Damian asked, looking over at Bruce.

"I will be sending my guards to the woods to look for him as soon as possible." Bruce explained. "You boys should head back to your rooms. Get some rest."

"We can't do that now." Tim retorted. "We need to find Jay. Let us help you."

"I don't know if the man that took Jason wants to take you boys too. I can't have that, the kingdom will fall apart. For now, I need to focus on finding the son of a bitch that took your brother." Bruce said. "I'll speak with the captain as soon as possible so that we can find the man that attacked the coronation. Until then, you boys get some rest."

Tim looked over at Dick. Dick gave him a weak smile and he patted his shoulder. "Go on ahead." he said.

Tim nodded and he led Damian out of the bedroom. Bruce sighed. He wasn't lying about what he said. He would have to speak with the captain as soon as his boys were safely situated in their rooms and comfortable. Dick looked over at Bruce again, with a look of sadness and worry in his eyes. "Dick." Bruce said, crossing his arms. "I will make sure that nothing happens to Jason. Ever."

"If you won't speak to The Batman... then I will." Dick said, shaking his head and turning to his window, which was wet with the rain. Bruce nodded and he left his son's bedroom. He looked over to the guards and tapped them on the shoulder. "Make sure that none of my son's leave the palace unless I say so." he said.

"Yes my king." the guard bowed, before standing straight in front of his door. Bruce walked back to his bedroom and quickly dressed in usual kingly attire. He walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs of the palace, where many of his guards would be waiting for him. Bruce needed to let them know what the hell was going on with his kidnapped son and how he would deal with the issue. Bruce walked into his main room, where his captain and head guards were waiting for him.

Captain Gordon was tapping the edge of his sword angrily. He was obviously upset with the turn of events leading with the kidnapping of one of the princes. Bruce walked inside, getting the captain and the guards attention. "Your highness." Gordon said, bowing.

Bruce smiled at him and slowly walked towards his throne. Bruce took a seat and gestured for everyone else to be seated. Once everyone took a seat, the captain was the first to speak up. "Your majesty, please forgive me." he said, hanging his head low. "It was my job to keep the coronation well protected, especially for Prince Jason."

"It's okay captain. No one could have in their right mind known that the monsters would have come in broad daylight and that their master would come for the prince." Bruce tapped the arm rests of his throne, shaking his head. "What I need right now is any knowledge on the man that took my son. Have you found anything out from the village?"

"No my king." said one of the knights, shaking his head and folding his hands on the table in front of him. "None of the villagers or the townsfolk knew about the green haired man at the coronation."

"What about the beasts? Did anyone know about the monsters that flew and attacked?"

"Some of the farmers say that the same dragon like creatures that attacked you and the princes flew through the forests and sometimes the village." answered another knight with a wedding ring on his finger. "But as far as we know, they never come out in the day light."

"We're thinking that the green haired man must be the dragon's master." Captain Gordon said.

Bruce started to rub his chin, thinking long and hard about what else he could be missing in finding the location of his son. "Any hostages?" Bruce asked, looking at the captain. "Did any of your men manage to capture the men that worked along side the green haired?"

"We did." the captain replied to his king.

"How many?"

"We've captured about seven of them. But none of them are speaking. They seem loyal to their leader."

"I'll see what I can do about that." Bruce said, looking out the window for a moment. "I know that it's dangerous, especially at night, but I want a few of your men to search the forest for my son. As soon as the sun rise, because I won't risk your lives."

"Do not worry about our lives your majesty." said the knight with the wedding ring on his finger.

"I will send a few of my men out to the forest tonight. Then I will send a small army of my best men out to search when the rain stops and the sun comes up." Captain Gordon said.

"Thank you captain. You are all dismissed."

The captain ordered his men to get up and leave. He waited until they were all gone and he looked back at the king. "My king, I will personally go out tonight to see if I can find your son. And I will not come back until he is found."

"I cannot ask that of you captain. I know that you have a daughter. She is a good friend of Prince Dick. I cannot let you risk your life when she depends on you." Bruce said, getting up from his throne and walking over to the captain. He held his hands behind his back and smiled down at him. "I'm sure that you will find more men to go out, but for tonight I will prefer if you stay here in the palace."

Gordon nodded and he looked back over at the window. "I know that your son will be found my king." he said. "I'm sorry that we failed to keep him out of harms way of that monster and it's master."

"Do not worry about it captain. Now... if you'll excuse me. I have a few things to take care of."

Captain Gordon nodded and he bowed down in honor of his superior. Bruce adjusted his shirt and he exited the room, where he was met by Alfred. Bruce motioned with his head for Alfred to follow him. Alfred walked with the king as he walked down the halls of his palace. "Please do not tell me that you are planning to go out in this weather to find Prince Jason?" the older man asked.

"No Alfred, I'm not." Bruce said, smiling at the old man's knowledge of everything he did at every moment. "I'm going out to meet Dick."

Alfred raised his eyebrows in suspicion. For once, he actually confused. Why did his king have to play the goddamn pronoun game with him almost every time they spoke about his alias as The Batman. "Why don't you just meet with the prince now? You know... without donning the armor that's as black as the night right now?"

"Alfred, you know Dick. You know that he doesn't give up on anything. Just because I put guards at his door doesn't mean that he won't find a way to escape and try to find The Batman. He's an acrobat for Christ's sake. He'll find a way outside."

"So what you're doing is finding him-"

"Keeping him from getting himself killed and hopefully to find my son."

Alfred sighed and he followed the king as he walked inside one of the rooms that no one knew existed. The palace old and had old rooms that were hidden in the walls. Bruce pressed on the door of one of the secret rooms and he walked inside with the old man. Bruce had to find a way to be The Batman without being found out because he was the king of Gotham. No one had found the room in years, so he was pretty safe. He walked inside and closed the door behind Alfred. The older man light a torch inside the room, illuminating the room that looked like death itself.

The secret room was a huge passageway that led to the stables. It was huge enough to fit a few people. Bruce walked over to a mannequin, that held his black armor and weapons. Bruce quickly undressed and dressed in his armor and cowl. The old man smiled as the king grabbed a few swords. "Your majesty." the man called to his king. "Please be careful."

"I always am Alfred." Bruce said with a smile. "I'll be home before supper, make sure that the boys stay inside."

Bruce made his way to the stables and he hopped onto the night black horse that he always rode. He snapped her reins hard and started to ride to the one place where he knew Dick would be waiting.

* * *

Dick might have been instructed by his guards to stay inside the palace, but he was never one to follow orders. Ever. He just put on his cloak and he jumped out of the window of his bedroom. No one noticed him leave the palace. Dick needed to find The Batman. Dick had heard the stories. He knew that he was the only one that had actually killed the beasts and apprehended the masters. If anyone could find his brother, it would be him.

Dick knew Jason. He knew him. He knew that me might have an attitude sometimes and that he acted like he hated the world and everyone around him, but the Jason that he knew was a king young man. He cared about some of the people around him and the kingdom. Jason was a great person. He would have been a great prince. Why would someone take Jason? He was so innocent, he did nothing to anyone. Why would someone kidnap Jason?

Dick allowed the rain to hit his cloak's hood as he waited for the black wearing knight to come to him. He know he would. Dick was standing right in the gardens, waiting for him to come. Jason was kidnapped in the gardens. He knew that The Batman would come to the gardens where the crime had happened. Dick waited patiently, allowing him to become sick and damp.

Sure enough, like Dick expected, after twenty minutes there was a dark figure on a horse barreling towards him. Dick's hand went to the dagger near his belt. He knew that Bruce had a valid point about this knight probably not being a hero and maybe being a threat to the palace. And if he was, Dick would not hesitate to stop him. One lunatic had his brother, he wouldn't let another run through the streets of his kingdom. The dark figure got closer and closer to the young prince, making Dick's heart beat just a bit faster. The man was dressed in the armor that everyone in the kingdom described. Black as the night and looking almost as if there was a bat insignia in the chest plate.

The Batman stopped his horse in front of the prince, his cape barreling in the wind and rain. Dick looked up at him, holding his dagger tighter. "Are you The Batman?" he asked, holding his head high in front of the man that honestly kind of terrified him.

Batman hopped off his horse and walked up to the prince. Dick pulled out his dagger and pointed it at him, warning him to not get any closer. Batman held his gloved hands up. "I won't hurt you." said the voice that sounded a tiny bit familiar to the prince. Dick swallowed the saliva rising in his throat and he slowly lowered the dagger.

"My brother..." Dick started. "Maybe you've heard, maybe you haven't but he was kidnapped. Taken. By a... a-"

"A man with green hair and pale white skin?"

Dick nodded. "Yeah. He brought his beasts to my brother's coronation and then he threw out a gas that knocked all of us out. The next thing I know, I woke up and then my brother was gone. I was hoping... praying that you might be able to find him."

The knight nodded, turning away from the prince and looked over at the destroyed stage and damp red flower petals everywhere. Dick sighed and put his dagger away. "His name is Jason." Dick said. "Prince Jason. Please, tell me if you can find him."

"I will make it my top priority to find the prince."

"Thank you. I promise that I won't report you to the king of you find him."

The Batman hopped back onto his horse and pulled onto the reins of the horse. "I will try to inform as much as I can about your kidnapped brother." he said, looking out towards the forest.

"Thank you so much." Dick said, smiling and pulling his cloak back up.

"You should get back inside before someone sees you, your majesty." he said one more time, before snapping the reins hard and forcing his horse to run quickly towards the forest. Dick smiled. His brother would be fine. He trusted the vigilante. If he could defeat beasts in the villages, then he would be able to find his brother. Jason would find him. Jason would be alright as long as this dark knight was looking for him. Dick pulled his hood up a little more and slowly made his way back towards the palace.

* * *

Jason slowly returned to consciousness in excruciating pain. It was like his body was on shaking on the inside and that he was going to die. Jason forced his head up from it's position just hanging down in his unconsciousness. Jason sat back up and he tried to get his eyes to focus on where he was and what was going on. Jason's eyes focused on what was going on around him. He was inside some kind of tent, because he could see the flap that led to the outside. Jason could feel the cold winds of rain and the dark blue color of the night sky. Jason groaned loudly at his stiffness in his body.

The pain from his body had passed, which was probably just from waking up. Jason finally started to remember what happened to him. He remembered his coronation and him finally being crowned an official prince of Gotham. Then a cold gust of wind. Bruce protecting him. Monsters attacking. A man with pale white skin and green hair. Jason tried to stand up and look around where he was, but he couldn't. It was almost like he couldn't move his arms and his chest. His body slammed back into something, probably the wooden pole that held the tent upwards. Jason shook his head confusedly and looked down. Large, thick and itchy brown ropes surrounded his torso. Jason turned his head to look around the pole and he saw from his peripheral vision that his wrists were tightly bound together with the same rope around his torso and chest.

Jason looked back forward and groaned angrily. He had actually been kidnapped from his coronation. Jason thought back, worrying about his brothers. He had seen Dick fall to the ground in the green fog and Bruce thrown into the chairs for the audience of the ceremony. Jason started to fight as hard as he could against his bonds. He needed to know if his family was alright. He needed to find out if they were alive or if they were a hostage just like him. Jason rubbed his wrists around, trying to pull the ropes free. "It looks like the prince is awake." said a scary and very, very high pitched voice.

Jason looked up and saw that someone was entering the tent from the flap that Jason had first saw when had woke up. The prince started to tense up, seeing the same pale white skinned man with green hair that had approached him while attacking his coronation. He was dressed in the same purple armor from when he was taken in the first goddamn place. Jason pushed himself back as far as he could, making up as much space as possible away from him and this man. The man smiled and he rushed forward in front of Jason, clutching his cheeks tightly. "Awww." the man remarked. "Why so serious princey pie?"

"Who are you?" Jason growled at him. "What do you want from me?"

"Isn't that cute? The hostage asking why he's a hostage. It's obvious that you're a hostage for a reason dear boy, don't you forget that and ask me again." he slapped Jason's cheeks before letting him go. He turned around and fully closed the flap of the tent. Jason pulled hard against the ropes on his wrists. He hadn't even realized that his ankles and knees had been restrained in a similar fashion.

Jason yelled out in frustration at his restrains and his kidnapper standing right in front of him. "Where are my brothers?" Jason asked, worryingly. "Where are the other princes? What have you done with them?"

"Well, they are probably waking up at this point in time. Just like you. The only difference is that they're home in that big old beautiful palace while you're here tied up in one of my tents." the man took a seat on the ground and smiled widely. His teeth were so yellow that they were almost as gold as the crown placed on Jason's head. "Call me The Joker."

"Let me go." Jason said through gritted teeth, pushing himself forward so that he was in the face of this so called Joker. "Or I swear to God I will tear you apart limb from limb."

"Go and try Jay-Jay. I don't see you going anywhere with that rope keeping you tied."

Jason growled at him again, fighting against his bonds. Joker started to laugh and clap like a child, watching Jason struggle so hard to get free. Jason raised his eyebrows at this man, who was laughing at him as he tried to get free. Jason groaned hard in defeat, slamming the back of his head onto the pole behind him. Why on all days in one year did he have to be kidnapped on his coronation? Would this would have happened on any other day? Was he a target? Jason looked back up at The Joker. Who did this man know his name? The people knew Jason, but he knew that the master's of the night monsters never knew who the prince's were.

"What is it Jay?" he asked, turning his head to the side with a wide smile.

"How do you know my name?" Jason asked, shifting from the uncomfortable pain in his chest from the ropes attaching him to the pole.

"Let's just say that... I know you." Joker replied, moving forward and he clutched Jason's neck. Cutting off the prince's airways and oxygen. "I know you and I know that knight that protects the streets of the kingdom."

"You... you don't know... anything about... about me. Now let me... let me... let me go!" Jason choked. Joker let him go and Jason coughed out loudly, letting the air get back into his lungs.

"That knight will come for you." Joker said, before clutching Jason's hair and slamming his head harshly hard back into the wooden pole. Jason groaned in pain, biting his lip to prevent from screaming. In all his time where he was beaten by his father, he knew that screaming and showing pain was the worse thing to do. Joker let him go again and stood up, pulling out his sword. Jason tensed up, not wanting to be tortured or possibly murdered for just doing what he was supposed to at his coronation.

The Joker unwrapped two dirty white cloths that surrounded his swords cut up and ripped sheath. Joker put his sword back on his armor's belt and then he knelt down to Jason's level. "Hope you don't mind." he said, before wrapping the cloth around Jason's mouth and gagging him. Jason did scream that time, as he kicked and squirmed to the best of his ability with the rope all over his body and connecting to him to the pole. Joker knotted it behind Jason's neck, making him groan and scream inside the cloth that was forced inside his mouth.

Joker pulled out his sword again and twirled it in front of the prince. "Hope you don't mind." he said, before plunging it's sharp tip inside Jason's left forearm. Jason screamed loudly as blood slowly started to pour out of the cut. Joker pressed the other cloth onto the cut and the blood started to cover the white of the cloth. Joker removed the cloth and smiled, thinking that the blood covering the cloth was sufficient enough. It almost looked like it was dripping with Jason's crimson blood. Joker tore the cloth from Jason's mouth once he put the blood soaked cloth away. "You bitch!" Jason yelled once his mouth as free from the cloth.

"You have quite the attitude don't you dear prince?" Joker asked with an ear to ear smile as he wrapped Jason's cut with the cloth that was still bleeding out. "I can't imagine how your princely brother's deal with you at all."

"Touch any of them and I will kill you." Jason growled after Joker tightly knotted the cloth over his wound.

Joker moved over and he smiled at the prince, before slapping his cheeks again. "Hope you told them that you loved them, because it's going to take quite awhile before you see any of your family again."

Joker got up and he walked out of the tent without a second look or word. Jason slammed his head back onto the pole and he tried so hard to break free again. Who was this Joker man? And what the bloody hell did he want with him? More importantly, what did he want with his brothers? God, Jason prayed that they were alright. Jason groaned as he moved to try and get comfortable in his restrains. If that Batman was a real person, Jason prayed that he would be alright. Because his kidnapper. He seemed like no joke. None what so ever.

"Bruce, you better have Damian, Tim and Dick." he whispered. "You better have them and have them safe."


	3. Chapter Three

_**Did anyone else want to die when Selina left Bruce at the altar during the wedding issues of Batman? After shipping them so hard? No? Just me? Okay then. Let's continue.**_

* * *

Bruce had not other choice but go to back to the palace after he had spoken to Dick. He knew that he had made his son a promise as the Batman to find him and bring him back home, but there were things that he had to do as a king. And going out know, this late in the night, in the rain would raise suspicion and he had to make everyone know and believe that he was just as worried and scared for Jason as everyone else. So he returned to the palace and dressed in his royal emerald armor, meeting Captain Gordon and his guards. Dick and Tim were there, obviously waiting and looking for him.

"Boys." Bruce said, walking over to them while holding the hilt of his sword. "What are you doing here? And where's Damian?"

"He's sleeping. We're here looking for you." Tim said, crossing his arms. "We need to talk to you."

"I can't speak right now. I'm going off to find your brother."

"This is about Jay." Dick said, sounding annoyed at Bruce. Dick moved closer to Bruce to whisper in his ear. He started to tense up. Did Dick know his secret? His he find our? How did he know? Did he know? Dick pulled Bruce into a hug, which caught the king off guard just a bit. He sighed a bit and hugged his son back. "Please..." Dick whispered. "Find Jason. Bring him back to us."

Bruce rubbed to back of his neck as he hugged back. "I will Dick. I promise."

Dick let go and he smiled at his adoptive father. He turned over to Tim, who approached Bruce next and hugged him as well. Bruce hugged back and patted the back of his shoulder. "Jay's strong." Tim whispered. "He'll know that you're coming for him. He knows that you wouldn't leave him."

"I'll find him Tim. I promise you both."

Tim let him go and he looked over at the few guards that were preparing to leave the palace to find the kidnapped prince. Bruce walked over to a few of the guards and he smiled at them. "Your majesty." one of the guards bowed. "I did not know that you would be joining us tonight."

"This is my son's life at stake." Bruce said retorting in the kindest way that he could. "I will do as much as I can to locate him."

The guard nodded and he bowed again, as a sign of apology to his king. "The captain will be joining us too. He shall be here in a matter of moments."

Just as the guard said this, Captain Gordon came over in his usual silver armor. He bowed at his king. "I didn't expect you to be joining us my king." he said.

"I just want to find my son. I want to look into the eyes of the man that took him and bring him here to be punished." Bruce said, walking over towards his horse, which one of the guards had gone and gotten for him. Gordon nodded and he jumped over onto his own horse.

"Men!" the captain yelled out, gathering the attention of the few guards joining him and even the princes, that hadn't even left yet. "We are on a mission tonight. We will be leaving the palace for at least an hour. We will search the woods and the forest to see if we can find Prince Jason. If we can't find the prince, then we are looking for a man with green hair and pale white skin.

"If any of you find them, then do not kill him. You cannot kill him because he might be the only one who knows where Prince Jason is being held... if God forbid he isn't already dead. If we find him, we will capture him and bring him back to the palace. From there we will hopefully be able force him to tell us where he is hiding the prince and what he has done to him." Gordon looked over at Bruce, looking for him to say something to the men. Bruce nodded and he looked over at his guards.

"Leave any torture that you might give to this man to me." Bruce said, grabbing the hilt of his sword to show the people that he was not kidding. "This man took my son and I'm making it personal."

"Move out!"

The guards got on their horse's and then they rode as fast as they could out into the woods. Dick on looked with worry and clear fear in his eyes, as his adopted father rode off with his guards. Dick looked over at Tim, looking obviously scared and worried. "Dick." Tim called, placing his hand on his brother's arm. "We'll find him."

"No." Dick said, shaking her head. "No, the guards won't find him. But The Batman will."

Tim raised his eyebrows confused as Dick started to walk off. "Wait, wait, wait!" Tim called to his brother, grabbing him. "Wait do you mean? Did you speak to The Batman?" Dick smiled and he nodded. Tim sighed and he looked at Dick with a glare. "Dick."

"What?" Dick said, shrugging his shoulders. "You've heard the stories. You know that he can find Jay."

"What if this man isn't who he says he is?" Tim responded. "What if he works for the man that took Jason?"

"I trust him. I met with him, cautiously. I even held my dagger up to him. He said that he'd look for Jason."

Tim sighed and he nodded. "I hope that he goes through on his word. Because if he doesn't find our Jason, I will take him to the dungeon myself."

"I will find him Timmy. And I promise that if he doesn't find our brother or goes back on his word on bringing him back to us safe, I will pierce and arrow through his heart."

Dick continued walking off, Tim finally letting him. Tim adjusted the cuff of his shirt and he started to walk off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Jason was groaning angrily at the pain from the newest cut he was given. His wrists and ankles felt like they were on fire from the tight ropes that were restraining him to the pole that raised the tent he was inside. The rain seemed to have ceased from outside, making Jason's scared jumping stop from the thunder and hard water spatter from the trees. The young prince was sweating profousely. Droplets of saltly water dripped from his head, chin and nose and onto the ropes binding him and his coronation slacks. Jason wanted nothing more than to get out of there. Out of his ropes and this damned tent. Then to leave the woods, or the cottage or wherever the bloody hell he was being held and be done with this goddamn kidnapping ordeal.

Jason pulled at his restrains for what felt like the hundredth time, hurting his still cut arm. Jason bit his lip to stop from groaning in pain again. He just wanted to know where his brother's were right now. Were they really back at the palace? Were they really safe? Jason needed to know. He had to know if they were alright and if they were hurt. Jason looked up when he saw the flap of the tent pulled away. The goddamn Joker walked back inside the small tent with his yellow teethed, wide grin. "Okay Jason." he said, moving forward behind the pole the boy was tied to and undoing the ropes surrounding his torso and chest. "You've been a good boy, so I'm taking you out for a walk."

"W-What?" Jason asked, feeling a freedom in his chest and stomach as soon as the ropes fell down on his lap. Joker grabbed his and pulled him up. Jason's stiff legs stung with angry screams of pain. Jason bit his lip again to stop from screaming as he was forced to hop to move to where The Joker pushed him.

Joker pushed him outside with hard force. Jason would have fallen onto the mud below and he was grabbed by two strong hands. Jason looked up and saw that it was two men dressed in the similar armor from the previous hours during his coronation. Jason didn't have the strength to fight anymore. The men in dark armor pulled him up so that he was face to face with The Joker. Joker pulled out the same sword that he was cut with and held it to his neck. "Still think that daddy will come for you?" he asked with an evil giggle. "The high and mighty king of Gotham coming after the prodigal son of his family? The one that took months to finally have his coronation? The one who was supposed to be a sex slave for monsters?"

Jason's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered the man with green hair. "You." he said with a growl.

"Me!" Joker responded, pulling his hands up with a wide smile. "Precious little daddy-o sold you to me. You were supposed to be working for me and my monsters, until disgusting little Batty Boop rescued you and adopted you as a prince of Gotham."

Jason hit his head hard on the Joker's nose, making him fall back into the mud with blood falling up into the night sky. The men holding him punched him hard in his newly exposed stomach, making puking the bile that had been raising in his throat ever since he saw the dragon come out of the bushes in the palace gardens. Joker didn't get up to yell, he just started to make an angel in the thick, wet mud. "You really are a catch!" Joker said, laughing loudly. "You boys know what to do."

They shoved a burlap sack over the prince and tied it to his neck so that it wouldn't fall off wherever they were taking him. One of the dark armored men punched him hard once again in the stomach so that he moved forward. Jason felt himself being pulled up onto the shoulder of one of the men. Jason screamed as he felt himself being moved. "Don't worry your highness. Everything will be alright. You just need to relax. Sit back... and relax."

* * *

Bruce rode in front of the guards, on looking around the dark trees and shrubs for any source of his son. There had to be something that would move him away from his guards so that he could look for his son as The Batman. He had his own personal Batman armor underneath his emerald armor. All he needed know was to leave and make them think that he was gone to the palace. Bruce moved his hands to his stomach and he faked an groan of pain. Captain Gordon immediately held his hand out to stop his guards from continuing further into the woods and he moved his horse close to the king's horse. "Your majesty, are you okay?" he asked.

"I think that I might have just eaten some bad soup from dinner back in the palace." Bruce said with a weak smile.

"You should probably go back to the palace my king. It'll be safer. You might be vulnerable and end up captured like Prince Jason was... no offense my king."

"None taken." Bruce said with a weak smile before faking another heave. "But you're probably right captain, I should probably head back. It's better for my protection anyway."

Captain Gordon looked over towards his men. "The king shall be riding back." he said. "One of you escort him."

Bruce moved his horse as he followed one of the guards that had volunteered to take his highness back to the palace. Bruce looked at his guard captain and gave him a salute. "Please find my son Captain." he begged.

"You have my word my king, we will bring him back safely." Gordon replied with a respectable nod as his superior. "Take the king home."

As Bruce started to head out of the woods, he moved back forward. Faking a stomach contraction or some kind of pain in his torso. "Your majesty?" the guards called.

Bruce jumped off his horse and he went behind a tree, faking the sounds of puking and throwing up. The guards took a couple steps back, wanting to give the probably sick king his privacy. Bruce took the moment to remove his emerald armor and put on his helmet that would keep his identity safe. Bruce forced the sound of a struggle and pushed himself behind the tree. He heard the guard pull out his ax, which signature weapon, and slowly creep towards the tree. "Your majesty?" he called getting close.

Bruce moved forward, intimidating the guard so that he fell backwards. Bruce moved over as The Batman and grabbed the guard. "What have you done with the king?!" he asked angrily.

"Give me your rope and no harm will come to him." Bruce ordered, trying to give himself two separate identities and scenarios that night. The guard did as he was told and handed the vigilante the long coil of rope that he had brought with him for the capture of the green haired man that took Prince Jason. Bruce forced the guard onto the tree where he had hidden and tied him to it. "I won't hurt you. I'm not trying to." Bruce said in his deep Batman voice. "I'm trying to help."

"What the hell did you do with the king?" the guard yelled at the black armored man in front of him. The two of them heard a loud growl coming from ahead of them. The guard seemed to shake with fear at the sound of an oncoming beast. Bruce moved over to get his (or "the kings") horse, but guard that he had restrained called out to him, fear evident in his eyes and voice. "You can't... you can't leave me here! The monsters are out tonight! Please... I have... I have a husband. Please... don't leave me out here!"

Bruce moved forward and covered his mouth, listening closely to the growls. The sound was similar. Like the monsters that are always being ridden by the owners. They wouldn't hurt anyone unless ordered to or provoked. An added bonus was that the monsters didn't have noses. They couldn't locate this guard with his scent or his sound. But their hearing was impeccable. Bruce looked back at the guard, who was begging to cry for his life at the hands of this masked vigilante. "If you stay quiet and don't try to escape, they won't come for you." Bruce said to him. "Stay here and stay quiet. You'll be back to your husband in no time."

"But the king-" he called in a whisper.

"The king is safe. But you need to stay here." Bruce said. "Stay low and stay quiet."

The guard nodded and he leaned against the back of tree, getting comfortable against his restrains in the darkness. Batman hopped onto the horse and snapped on the reins moving towards the sounds of the growls and the horse hooves. He moved himself forward towards the approaching guards. The all stopped at the sound and looked at the approaching vigilante. Captain Gordon raised his sword immediately. "We're not here for you." he yelled. "But he will bring you in to the king if you do not leave now."

"I am here to find the prince." he yelled back, tightening the grip on his reins. "I was sent by Prince Richard."

"You are a criminal. Wanted by King Bruce." Gordon retorted. "You are already in enough trouble with the kingdom. Lying about one of the prince's will get you into more hot water with the king."

"Believe what you will, but I am here to find Prince Jason. Do not get in my way if you want to stay uninjured."

Bruce snapped his reins and moved forward into the woods. Some of the guards moved to get their weapons and go after him, but Gordon held up his hand. "No." he said. "Any help in finding the prince we will take. But if he turns and tries to attack any one of us, do not hesitate to chain him up and take him to the palace as a prisoner."

The guards rode out, completely behind Bruce. He looked out, listening hard to the sound of the monsters starting to itch closer. It also began to smell metallic. Something that is never in a forest filled with plants, trees and shrubs. Batman looked around, searching for the source of the metallic scent. He got off his horse and quickly stripped it of anything that was a sign of being the king, before walking up to one of the trees. A cloth hung from one of the trees. It was completely wet with red. Blood.

Bruce could take one guess as to who's blood it was.

Jason's.

Batman looked behind him, realizing that the guards and Gordon had caught up with him. "This is the prince's blood." he said to him, passing him the cloth that was completely red. Gordon took it and handed it to one of his men. They sniffed it and nodded in agreement. It was the prince's blood.

"Then he should he around here somewhere." Gordon said.

"No need to look kiddies." called a voice that Bruce remembered from almost hours ago. He pulled out his sword, along with the other guards and Captain Gordon. The growling of the monsters grew louder as they came out of the darkness. There were three, was seemed pretty easy to Bruce. And sure enough, there was the green haired man standing on the tallest monster with a wide smile that showed off his yellow teeth. He smiled and waved at the vigilante and the palace guards as if they were old friends from the village. "Hello there! You must be the cavalry that princey has been talking so highly off."

"Where is the prince you heartless beast?" Gordon yelled, moving closer to the green haired man.

"Oh please. Call me Joker." he said, looking over at Batman. "So... you did come after all. The prince spoke very highly of you. Said that you'd come for him."

"Well I did." Batman yelled. "He's brother sent me. And will do well on my promise to bring him back to the palace safely."

Joker laughed, pulling his head back. "Boys..." he called to the two men on monsters next to him. "Do you mind?"

One of them turned behind him at pulled out a tightly restrained man, dressed in black and red from the coronation and with a burlap sack tied over his head. The crown that had been placed over his head was put on the top of his sack. It didn't take a genius to realize that it was Jason. "Say hi Jay-Jay." Joker said. "Oh wait. I forgot. You can't. Hah!"

Batman put his arm in front of Gordon as he tried to move forward and attack. "I will ask you once." Batman yelled up. "Release Prince Jason now."

"Or suffer the consequences." Gordon finished, raising his sword again.

"I guess that I'm suffering the consequences." Joker said, grabbing Jason from the other man next to him and holding him with a dagger to his covered throat. "Get them out of my woods."

The two men hit their monsters and their loud roars rang through the trees. The guards began to shake in fear, knowing that they were no match for these beast with the small amount of them there. Gordon stepped back a moment, becoming just as scared as his men. But Batman wasn't. He knew what to do. He pulled out a throwing star from his belt and he threw it first at The Joker. It hit the hand that he was holding Jason with. The green haired villain yelled in pain, dropping Jason. Bruce was as fast as he could and moved forward, grabbing the boy before he fell and broke his back for chest.

Batman ran with him behind the tree where he saw the cloth covered in his blood and he laid him down. "Stay here." he whispered. "I'll be right back."

Batman ran away from him and pulled out his sword. He started to swing at the monster that was starting to attack Gordon. The blade hit the monster in his ear and it fell back, screaming in obvious pain. The rider of the monster fell down onto the ground and one of the palace guards immediately went down and held his own blade to his throat. Batman stabbed his entire sword inside the chest of the beast before turning to the other, who was directly behind him. It swung at Bruce as he was thrown across the woods. His back hit a tree, already irritating his injures from the coronation kidnapping.

He fell down and looked up, vision blurring just a bit. The monster started to loom closer to him. Ready to pounce and attack. The rider looked down, looking blood thirsty for the death of the vigilante. Batman moved over and slid underneath the beast. As he did he pulled out a dagger that he kept in his boot and held it up to the monster. It's neck, chest, stomach and tail were cut open and blood spilled just behind him. The beast screamed in the pain as it fell dead from blood loss. The rider pulled out it's own blade and crept over to Bruce. Before he had the change to stab the bat loving vigilante.

But Gordon moved forward and plunged his sword inside his leg. The dark armored man screamed and fell to the ground. "Thank you." Bruce said, putting his dagger away.

"I did it for the prince and the king." Gordon corrected, in a tone like as matter of fact. Bruce looked behind him and saw that The Joker had gotten away. He and his monster were both gone. They must have left in the fight. He saw the guards restraining the man that was captured earlier. Batman suddenly remembered what this fight was for. "The prince." he and Gordon said almost at the exact same time. They moved forward towards the tree where Bruce had hidden Jason and they both slowly started to untie the tightly restrained and probably afraid prince.

"Your majesty." Gordon said as he removed the ropes around his wrists. "It's Captain Gordon. Don't worry now, you're safe."

Batman removed the sack and the two of them gasped. It wasn't Prince Jason. It was a dead body. A dead body of one of the men that had kidnapped Jason. Bruce recognized him. It was one of the kidnappers. And he was dead. "Dammit." Gordon said, grabbing the fallen crown from the body. "The king will not be happy about this."

Batman curled his hand into a fist and he turned to his horse. Gordon looked over at him. "You should get out of here. I won't let the king know that you were here, but do not show up again. Or I will capture you and bring you to the king."

Bruce nodded and rode his horse off towards the guard that he had left restrained. He was shivering in the cold and his eyes were bloodshot from fear and probably tears. Bruce got down and he untied him. "You should head back to the palace. The king will be there."

"Thank you." the guard said, rubbing his hands to bring back some circulation. "What happened?"

"The captain will let you know what happened when you get back to the palace. But you should hurry, before they find you and blame you for letting the king be captured." he said, pushing him towards towards the horse that had just grazed while he stayed to the tree. The guard nodded and got up on his saddle.

"Just so we're clear." the guard said. "I don't think that you're all that bad."

Batman nodded and he watched as he rode his horse out as fast as he could towards the palace. Bruce sighed out loud and he leaned against the tree. This was getting bad. Horrible. Worse than he expected. His son was still out there. And the man that had him, this... this Joker, he seemed like he knew how to get to a person. He seemed to know how to get to him and himself as King Bruce. He was a serious threat. A serious threat. To his kingdom. To his sons. To Jason. Bruce needed to stop this Joker. He had to.

But he couldn't do it alone. Look how tonight had gone. He had almost died if it wasn't for Captain Gordon. He couldn't rescue Jason alone. Not as Batman. Not as King Bruce. He needed help. He would need to find help. He would need help. Bruce bit his lip in frustration. He didn't want to... but he had to. He removed his helmet and snapped the reins of his horse hard as he rode out. The only way of rescuing Jason would be telling the few people that he didn't want brought into the life of a vigilante. Bruce snapped his reins harder, pushing his horse to ride faster. He would have to tell his son's who he was.

His son's would need to know that he was Batman. If he wanted to rescue Jason, then his son's would need to know his identity as none other than the wanted vigilante. Batman.

* * *

"Set him down right, right there." called The Joker's high pitched voice. Jason had been hanging upside on someone's shoulder. His stomach hurt from the hanging and he felt like he was going to throw up any minute. But he didn't want to. Puking in the bag would just leave it there and it would slosh around all over his face. Plus, Jason felt like he might suffocate. The bag wasn't tied to tightly around his head, but it was still cutting off new oxygen from coming inside. The air inside the bag was hot and smelly and all Jason wanted to die in the moment was other die.

Jason was pushed down from the shoulder and set down on what felt like a cold hard floor. Like stone. Jason was inside somewhere. Jason felt the rope be cut off his wrists and legs. Jason's hand immediately went to the rope that secured the bag. Once removed, the young prince begun to throw up the bile that wanted to go out of his mouth as soon as he went upside down. He heard a door slam behind up as he puked. Jason turned, feeling faint but still wanting to get out of this damn prison. He stood up, swaying from the lightheadedness from the puking and he walked to the door. He couldn't take in the surroundings around him. He wasn't thinking about where he was.

Jason grabbed the bars of the cell from the small window from the top. Joker was standing near the front door, looking at the boy as his eyes started to shift from side to side. Obviously from exhaustion and lack of food in the past few hours. "You feel comfortable Jason?" Joker asked. "You better get comfortable. You're going to be here for the remainder of your stay."

"You... you bas...you basta-bast-" Jason didn't have the time to finish his sentence. He fell down on his side, passing out. Joker laughed as Jason fell out of view from the bars of the cell.

"Oh Jay-Jay." he said with a smile. "You'll be here for quite awhile. Quite awhile."

Joker walked off the hall of the room where Jason was held, before removing his armor slowly. But Jason didn't pass out. He just fell down, waiting for his captor to walk off. Jason raised himself up and he walked to his door. He pulled at it from the bars of the cell. It was locked tightly. No way of exiting without the key to the door outside. "Dammit." Jason whispered to the best of his ability with his weaken strength. Jason looked around the cell that he was inside. It was made out of cobblestone with a small cot in the corner. There was moonlight spilling inside. Jason walked over towards it as quickly as he could. Jason felt the bars of the window. Of course it was barred.

Jason slid down from the wall behind him onto the ground. Jason gripped the cut that was still bleeding from his arm. Jason had no idea when he would be rescued or set free. But he knew that he had to get out of here. And soon. Jason's eyesight was blurring. His exhaustion and pain was getting to him. He would pass out soon. Sooner than he would be rescued. Jason heard his prison door open again and he looked up. It was The Joker again. He approached the young boy with a his armor removed. His was now dressed in bright purple clothing that looked identical to the clothes that Bruce wore all the time.

"Let me explain something to you before you pass out." he said as Jason's vision started to darken. "You are mine."

Jason felt red, hot, blistering pain before he was enveloped into the darkness. It was warm and inviting, unlike what was happening outside his thoughts.


	4. Chapter Four

_**Holy shit, an update! Damn, don't I take years to post everything Batman and Jason Todd? I just hope that you like this one, because I've been planning the end of this story for forever. Okay. Here we go.**_

* * *

Prince Dick paced around his bedroom most impatiently. He was waiting for the guards and Bruce to return with his brother or news about his kidnapped brother. Tim was sitting in his bedroom with him, with his other brother Damian, sleeping his lap. "Dick..." Tim called to him. "You should sit down. Relax."

"I can't." Dick replied, adjusting the hair that was beginning to fall down his face. "I can't just sit down. Not when Jay is out there."

Tim slowly moved Damian's body off of his lap and allowed him to rest on Dick's soft velvet pillows. Tim got up and approached his other brother. Tim placed his hand on Dick's shoulder and gave him a weak smile. "Dick... come on. Talk to me." he said.

"I'm worried about Jay, what more do I have to say?!" Dick yelled. "You know how tragic is life was before he became a prince. You know how... how traumatic it was for him. And now he's out there... and I don't know where he is. If he's okay. If he's... if he's..."

"Dick." Tim said, moving over to him and hugging him. Dick held his brother close and he allowed him to sob into his chest. "It's okay Dick. It's going to be fine. We'll find him. We'll-"

Tim's reassurances were cut off when the door to the bedroom opened. There were guards posted on the door, which meant that the only people coming inside would be Bruce or Captain Gordon. Tim and Dick straightened up and looked as Bruce walked inside. He was still dressed in emerald armor, but he had his crown on his head now. Bruce turned to the side over at guards near the door. "Thank for watching my sons." he said before turning to the three of them. He approached Damian, who was sleeping and shook him awake. Damian sat up and Bruce helped him up. "Follow me boys. We have some things to discuss."

Dick and Tim looked at each other, but they followed Bruce out of the bedroom and towards his study. The guards followed them and stood outside the study door. Bruce turned over to them and smiled. "Thank you. You are now excused." he said, before walking inside and shutting the door. Bruce turned over to his three sons and swallowed forming bile in his throat. "Boys there's... something that I need to tell you. Something that you need to know."

Dick straightened, growing worried. "Is this about Jason? Is he okay?!"

"Did you get to him?" Damian asked. "Is he hurt?"

"No boys... we couldn't get to him." Bruce said. "But this isn't about Jason... this is about me."

Dick looked over at Tim and Damian with worry. "What about you father?" Damian asked.

Bruce sighed and pulled out a black owl from behind his armor. He threw it onto the table in his study. Tim and Damian looked at the cowl with confusion, but Dick knew that cowl. He had stood in front of the man who wore that cowl. Dick grabbed the cowl and he pushed it in front of Bruce. "Dick..." Bruce tried to say.

"Say it." Dick yelled. "I want to hear you say it. Now."

"Dick... boys... I'm... I'm the Batman." Bruce said finally.

Dick slammed the cowl on the table in anger. He pinched the crook of his nose and walked away from Bruce into one of the study's corner. Tim picked up the cowl and looked down at it. "Bruce... why... why didn't you tell us?" he asked.

"To protect you. Protect you all." he said.

"And look where that got Jason." Dick yelled, crossing his arms.

Damian looked over at the cowl. "How did you become the Batman?" he asked, being curious.

"You all know the story of how my parents died." Bruce said, taking a seat and resting his head in his hands. "After they were taken from me... I swore revenge. On the monsters and their masters. And I promised that no one else that I cared about, that I loved... would be stripped from me again... but I broke my vow when the coronation was attacked and Jason was kidnapped."

"You outlawed yourself. You outlawed vigilantes." Tim said, turning his head to the side because he was becoming intrigued in the story. "Why would you do that?"

"You remove the heat off of me. I know that people started to rumor that I was the Batman, and I had to find a way to take that off of me. Because if they knew who I was. They'd want to hurt me. Which means that they'd hurt you. So I outlawed Batman, so people believed that I hated him or that he and I had a personal grudge against one another." Bruce sighed and looked over at Dick, who was refusing to look back at him. But Bruce knew his son. He knew that he was listening. "Dick... I never meant to hurt you or to get Jason kidnapped."

Dick turned over to look at Bruce. "Why are you telling us this Bruce? Despite what you said, I know that this has to do with Jason."

Bruce nodded. "I met with the captain and my men while I was the Batman. We met in the man that took Jason. He said that his name was The Joker. And that he some kind of vendetta against me. So I need help. From all of you."

"Help?" Tim repeated.

"You boys are the only ones that I trust enough to help me with this. You're my sons." Bruce said.

"Now you suddenly want our help?" Dick asked. "When you've keeping this damned vigilante secret from us for God knows how long and because you think that Jason's life is on the line! I'm sorry Bruce. I will gladly keep your secret, but I am not helping you."

"Dick, think about this." Tim said. "Bruce has a point."

"If we fight together... we might have a fighting chance. To stop this Joker and to get Jason back." Damian added. "You want to find Jason just as much as we do. What have you got to lose?"

Dick punched the wall, silencing everyone. "What have I got to lose? How about my brother."

Dick walked out of the study, angered and annoyed. Tim sighed and got up. "Let me talk to him." he said to Bruce.

"No. I will. He needs to hear it from me and no one else." Bruce said. "But... you both know that I wouldn't hurt you."

"We know father. And we will gladly help you in any way possible." Damian said. Bruce nodded and his two sons and walked off to find his eldest boy. He knew where he would be. Bruce had practically watched Dick grow up. He knew all of his favorite spots to hide away when he wanted to be alone, mourn his parents or justt read without being interrupted. Bruce walked up to the top floor of the palace and approached the top tower. He used to Dick being so fast to the point that he always there before him. Bruce walked over and saw Dick looking out the towers window, with sadness and anger in his eyes. Bruce saw tears in his sons eyes as well. "Dick." he called.

"Bruce... I'm not mad at you for being him. For being the Batman. I'm actually kind of glad that it was someone I've known forever and not some middle aged village freak." Dick said. "I'm just... I'm worried for Jay. I want him back so much. And we don't know if he's dead or not!"

"We can't think like that." Bruce said. "Let's not think about that. We will find your brother and bring him back."

Dick licked his lips and sighed. "If I was willing to help you... what would I have to do?"

"I know that you in particular are an amazing acrobat and skilled in fighting. Gordon says so himself. So what I'm asking you and your brothers to do is to come with me. Come with me and fight these monsters." Bruce said. "Will you do it for me? For Jason?"

Dick sighed and looked over at the man that took a chance on him when he was a child. "I'll do it. As long as you promise that we'll find Jason and you leave that Joker to me."

* * *

Joker skipped along in the woods, a wide smile on his face. He was pulling a small wooden cart along with him. Laying in the cart was the still and limp body of Prince Jason. Joker pulled him along, whistling along to the music going on in his head. He continued to pull him deeper into the forest, until he approached a clearing. "Hello!" Joker yelled as he entered. "I'm here!"

There were a small group of men in the clearing, surrounding a deep, large, man made pool of glowing green water. The moved over to the side, showing a rich looking young man dressed in a dark green suit. "Joker." he said, walking over to him. "Your letter seemed interesting. Why did you ask to meet me?"

Joker turned over to the side and showed the cart where Jason was laying. The man in the suit walked over to the cart and saw the prince that was unconscious inside. He moved over a blanket that was covering the prince's torso and legs and saw a deep gash in his stomach. The blood was dried, which meant no one tried to save the innocent prince from death. The man checked the prince's wrist for a pulse. He smiled when he felt nothing. Prince Jason was dead. "Well done Joker." he said. "Well done indeed."

"We haters of this bat freak need to stick together." Joker said with a smile. "Ain't that Mr. Al Ghul?!"

"Please..." he said with a smile. "Call me Ra's." Ra's Al Ghul snapped his ringed fingers over at the men that were surrounding this pool. "Strip the wayward prince of his garments and prepare him for the Pit."

The hooded and masked men nodded, before grabbing the dead prince with extra care. "I do not understand how this will affect the Batman Joker." Ra's said. "But if you're sure that it will then I am all for it."

"Oh trust me on this one. The Batman will come running when he finds out what I did. I have a pretty special hunch on who the big bad bat is." Joker said. "This... is will throw him off the edge." Joker say the guards about to dip Jason inside the pool. "Hang on just a minute there boys!"

Joker walked over to Jason, who had been stripped of his royal clothing and just just in his dark grey underwear. Joker looked down at his lean but muscular body and at his lifeless, cold corpse like skin texture since the stab wound that killed him. He reached for the golden pendant that was hanging from his neck and snapped it off. He walked off with it in his hand. "Do ya really think this will work Al Ghoolio?"

"I'm not entirely sure. But my Lazarus water can do practically anything. Proceed." Ra's said in a calm voice.

The men threw the young prince inside the green water and they heard a hiss and fell deeper. Joker smiled and inched closer, Ra's allowing him too because he was too crazy to tell him no. After a couple of moments of bubbling, the water splashed a body came up from the water screaming. Jason's eyes were a glowing green and his skin looked like it was almost growing. Jason was yelling at the top of his lungs, holding head and shaking around. "Men." Ra's said, pointing at him.

Ra's men moved over to their sides and grabbed a long coil of black lassos. The threw the ropes as Jason. One caught his neck, while the others grabbed his wrists, elbows and chest. Jason fought them hard, but they dragged him out of the man made pit of Lazarus water. Ra's Al Ghul's men held the damp Jason down as he hook hard and tried to break free. "There." Ra's said as he and Joker approached Jason. "That should make him a bit more maintainable. And if he fights, the pain will just make him crazy. Which it better for someone like yourself, am I wrong?"

"No." Joker said laughing. "No, it's amazing for someone like myself."

Ra's and Joker stopped in front of Jason, looking down at him as he trashed hard at the lassos that held him down like he was a wild animal. "The water seemed to have made him stronger. Completely stronger. That's probably the pain he is feeling right now." Ra's Al Ghul said, moving over and grabbing his neck. He moved his head from side to side, smiling at the fact that Jason's previous scratches, injuries and even pimples were gone. "How do you feel your highness?"

"Wh-Wh-Whhaaahaa." Jason tried to spit out the word what, but he couldn't. Everything around him was spinning and his body felt like it was shaking. He could have sworn that he died, so why the hell was he here now?

"This is normal. He won't be prone to speaking for a while now. It'll give you plenty of time to find a use for him against the king." Ra's said. Ra's went over to one of his men and grabbed the leather flask pouch that they were holding out to him. He knelt down to the man made lake and filled the pouch with it's magical and weaponized water. He stood up and put it in the Joker's hands. "If you want to control him, just give him a drop of this and he will follow your every order."

"I cannot thank you enough Ghoolio." Joker laughed, swinging the rope around the satchel and looking back at the men that held him. "Can you tie him like a present please? I don't want dear old Batty peeking at his gift?"

Ra's nodded at his men as they pushed Jason back to cart where he was laying dead before. Joker turned back to Ra's and bowed. "Thank for your hospitality." he said, before skipping back over to take Jason back "home" with him. Joker took the rope that that pushed the cart while Jason pulled hard at the lassos that were keeping his tied. The lassos were keeping him tied very loosely, but from whatever the hell just happened in that water, he was weak. The weak lassos around his body felt like tight chains and ropes. Jason shook violently in the cart, shaking from side to side to try and get a clear image in his eyes or even just try to escape. As Joker looked at Jason instead of looking at where he was pulling Jason and he bumped into someone. Joker looked over and smiled. "Well well well, isn't it the beautiful Al Ghul princess herself?" Joker said.

"I'm no princess." Thalia said, shaking her head in disgust. She looked over to the side at the cart, seeing Jason laying on the wooden cart, loosely tied with lassos and with a threadbare blanket covering him. "Is that... who I think it is?"

"The missing prince!" Joker exclaimed with a happy chuckle. "Now, will you please excuse us... I have something to teach him. Some lessons that he needs to learn."

Joker pushed past Thalia and continued riding with Jason in a cart. The young woman bit her lip and shook her head. Something smelt fishy and she couldn't really handle it. She pulled up the hood of her cloak and started heading towards Bruce's palace.

* * *

Bruce stood in front of his three sons as they took in the armor that he wore as The Batman. Dick just stared at it, but he refused to show how impressed he was. Tim and Damian just stared in complete awe. That their father. The man that took a chance on them adopted them was the man that practically saved Gotham every single night from monsters and their monsters. "I know that it's a lot to take in boys." Bruce said.

"It's amazing." Damian said, smiling at the sword that rested right near the black coal like armor.

"So what is it exactly that you want us to do?" Tim asked, moving over so that he was looking at his father. "Convince the guards to take different patrolling routes."

"No." Bruce said with a sly smile, shaking his head. "No, I want you boys to join me out there. I know that this Joker character is a threat. A dangerous one. And I know that he has your brother and that he's going to do something horrible to him. I will do anything to prevent that. So I need you boys to help me go out. Find the perpetrator. Arrest him and get Jason back."

"I understand for Dick, but for me and Damian I'm not so sure. We're not fully trained." Tim said. "Dick is fully trained to be a knight, but we're not done yet."

"I will specially train you all myself." Bruce said. "With my training, you'll be finished with knight training and be ready to face the monsters."

Bruce walked over to a small shelf on inside the room and he pulled out a glass filled with a white fluid. He shook the body ever so slightly, making sure that it was the right bottle he was looking for and he approached his sons. He put the bottle down and he looked at his boys. "This is a venom from one of the monsters." he said. "I have all four of the monsters venom. Now, if I want this to work properly and for all of us to stay safe out there, I need you to put this in your system."

Dick walked over to it and he took the bottle. "So... we need to put this in your system so that we'll be immune to it. How much pain will we be in?"

"You boys just need to take a drop of each at once and you'll be immune permanently. The pain will be like your bodies are burning on the inside and the out." Bruce explained, pulling out the other three bottles of venom. "But it will only be there for a full minute."

Dick nodded. "I'll go first."

Bruce licked his lips and handed the bottles to Dick. Each bottle had a dropper. Bruce took each dropper and dropped one small circular drop onto Dick's tongue. Dick swallowed and he pressed both of his palms on the table. His veins started to pop out and his skin became red. "Dick..." Tim called, catching his brother and friend as he fell back. Dick was biting his lip hard to stop from screamed and revealing where they were. Bruce knelt down beside his son and held him tightly.

"I know it hurts." Bruce coaxed. "You just need a couple of more minutes. Just breathe. Just breathe son."

Dick started to shake and sweat from the pain. Damian knelt down with them and held Dick as he shook. More agonizing seconds passed and Dick stopped shaking. Dick opened his eyes and looked around. Bruce sighed, the pain had subsided. "Are you okay now Dick?" Bruce asked.

Dick nodded, licking his lips. "I can't imagine if this is what the innocent villagers have to go through. Let alone if Jason has to deal with this."

"Let not think about that." Tim said, looking at Bruce. "Give me the venom."

Bruce dropped the liquids onto Tim's tongue. And then onto Damian's. After an agonizing long two minutes, the two boys stopped their sweating, crying and screaming of pain. The three of them finally stood and looked at their father. "We took the venom." Dick said. "Now what?"

"Now I have to train you." Bruce said.

Bruce heard the door start to creak open and he moved in front of his sons. Just in case it was someone he didn't recognize. But it was just Alfred. Alfred walked inside and smiled. "My king." he said with a small bow. He looked over at the three princes and he got a bit paler. "My princes. What are you... what are you doing here?"

"Do not be alarmed Alfred." Bruce said with a smile. "I brought the boys here. I thought that I would need the help with Jason being kidnapped and that Joker person becoming more dangerous by the minute."

"Of course. In that case, welcome my princes." Alfred said.

"Thanks Alfred." Tim said, shaking the old man's hand like he did all the time.

"What did you come in for?" Dick asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah yes. Urgent news tonight. It's in regards to Prince Jason." Alfred said

"Didn't my men just deal with my son's kidnapper?" Bruce asked, walking over to him. "What has happened? Is Jason okay?"

"I'm not sure my king. But what I do know is that there is someone is here to see you. And I don't think that she's to see Prince Damian."

"My mother?" Damian said. Damian knew who his mother was. Bruce actually was the one that insisted that they have a good relationship. "What is my mother doing here?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." Alfred said, smiling and bowing at the youngest prince. "Please follow me your highness. I will see to it that the boys get to their rooms safely."

"No." Bruce said. "If this is a matter with Jason, then they have to come with me. They need to know things if they're going to help me find him."

"Well, then follow me your majesty." Alfred said, leading them out of the room.

* * *

Jason found himself back in the cobblestone cell where he was killed moments ago. Jason leaned against the wall, hugging his knees as the pain from coming back from the dead. He was sweating harshly and drool and blood dribbled from his lips. He wanted to go home. He just wanted to go home to the palace. He wanted Dick and Tim and Damian and Alfred and Bruce. He wanted to be back in the palace. Jason licked his lips as the door to his cell opened. The goddamned Joker walked inside, carrying a leather pouch. "Ghoolie said that you'd be more hungry now than you've ever been in your entire life." he said with a laugh. "So eat."

Joker threw the bag on the ground and out came out a few cooked rabbits. Jason couldn't help himself and his body crawled as fast as it could to the food. Jason grabbed it with his bare hands and filled stuffed his mouth as hard as he could with the meat. He was starving and his body was yearning for the food. Joker shut the cell door and just stood looking at him through the small barred window. Jason didn't mind and swallowed as much meat as he could. "I gotta say Jay-Jay, I admire you." Joker said. "You're so strong and buff and smart. You'd make a great prince and knight someday... if only your so called family knew that."

Jason swallowed a huge chunk of meat and looked up at Joker from the cell door. "What the hell are you talking about?" Jason gasped, taking a second to breathe instead of inhaling his food harshly.

"I'm talking about how your fake father and poor excuses for brothers."Joker said, looking down at his nails.

Jason got up in a huff and slammed his fists onto the cell door, leaving two huge dents on them and moving one of the cell window bars out. "You... don't dare speak about my family!" he yelled.

"But it's true. You know your precious father more than I do. Think about it. Why do you think I chose you to take? The wayward son? Last child to be officially crowned a prince of Gotham? Come on now Jason." Joker picked up the fallen bar and twisted it in his fingers. "King Bruce doesn't care about you, or he would have raged a war looking for you."

Jason's tight fists uncurled and he moved away from the doorway. As much as he wanted to prove Joker wrong about everything he just said, he was right. Bruce would have brought an army by now. He would have brought the fucking calvary. But nothing. Jason was just here, a prisoner and a hostage. Not freed. Not a prince. Jason licked his lips and tried to hold his head up high like he was brave, but the Lazuras water was still in his system, so he swayed a bit from the emotions wafting over him. He pressed a hand against the cobblestone wall for balance.

"He'll... He'll come." Jason whispered. "They'll come for me."

"It's been almost hours now Jason. The sun should be rising soon after all. I think it's time that you stop holding onto this damned belief that they're coming for you and face that fact that you're mine now."

"Fuck you! They love me!" Jason yelled, pointing his finger at the man that looked like a clown.

"There he is!" Joker laughed. "There's the angry Jason that we all know and love. But in all seriousness Jason... if that king really loved you, he would have found you by now."

Jason fell down on the bed in the room and buried his head in his hands. "No..." he gasped, knowing that he was right. Bruce wasn't coming.

"Now I know that it hurts, but you have to understand. I only want what's best for you." Joker knelt down and slid down a piece of parchment, a feather quill and a bottle of ink in a little hatch in the cell door. "Why don't we get revenge on him together?"

Jason looked up at the parchment. "I will never let you win." he said. "I won't write a ransom letter for you just because you want to bring down my father."

"Oh really?" Joker asked. "Firstly, I'm not trying to just bring down your father. I'm trying to bring down that Batman, for ruining our terror on the town and on the kingdom of Gotham. And secondly, you will write that ransom note... or else I'll bring in some company. Maybe one of your other brothers? The youngest maybe?"

"No!" Jason yelled. "Don't hurt them! Please!"

"Write the letter to your father... demanding his presence in the woods near the waterfalls and saying that you'll be hurt more if he doesn't reply."

"And if I write this... will you leave them alone?"

"Knights honor." Joker said, saluting.

"You're not a knight." Jason growled.

"And you're not a prince."

Jason looked down at the parchment. "I don't know why you want me to do this... it's not like he's looking for me anyway."

Jason wrote the letter and handed it to The Joker through the cell bars. "Good." Joker said, folding the letter so he could put it in an envelope later. "Now... you should rest. You have a lot to do tomorrow."

"Tomorrow..." Jason repeated. "What's... what's tomorrow?"

Joker didn't answer his question because he walked away. Jason looked back down at his food and he continued to stuff his face. Tears leaked from his eyes. He wanted to go home. He wanted Dick and Bruce and Tim and Damian and Leslie and Alfred and everyone in his life. He wanted everyone back in his life. He know understood how annoying he must of been and how unappreciative he was to the life that he was given after such a terrible childhood.

Jason heard footsteps and he saw two of Joker's men walked inside the cell. Jason looked at them with worry and fear. He slowly walked over to hide in the corner, but they followed him. "Joker needs to right now." one of them said. "You're going to have to come with us."

"I'm not going anywhere." Jason yelled. The two men moved forward and grabbed him. "No! No, no, no!"

One of them pinched Jason's cheeks together tightly so that his mouth opened. One of them pulled out a vial of familiar green water and pulled out a dropper. "Open wide princey." the other said with a laugh as he moved closer to Jason.

"No! No please! No!" Jason screamed as the drop of water was placed on his tongue. Jason screamed as he he pulled away. Soon, he was yanked out of the room. But Jason became more lethargic. More manageable. He no longer had control of his body. But he was see what he was doing. He saw what was happening for a short period of time, before his eyes turned completely green and it was like he was sleeping walking. Except he wasn't sleeping.

He was more like a puppet now.

With Joker pulling the strings.


	5. Chapter Five

Bruce walked into the throne room accompanied by his sons. Damian stood in front, the fact that it was his mother visiting the palace giving him advantage. The king held his head up high, trying to hide his hope for his son. He hoped that Thalia has here with good news about his child. Good news that he was alive. He would accept a ransom letter or a cut ear if it meant that Jason was alive and safe. Bruce walked inside the ballroom and he saw the woman that helped him create his youngest son.

It was one of his weak moments. Sleeping with Thalia. They had met at a pub and one thing led to another. It was one of Bruce's nights were he was yearning so hard for comfort that he would die for it. And comfort he got. The arms of an assassin that bore him another child. Bruce still believed that she looked as beautiful as ever, dressed in dark green and black. She turned to them and bowed immediately. "Your majesty." she said.

Bruce looked over at the guards posted against the walls. "Leave us men. Guard the doors."

His men nodded and left the room, shutting the wooden doors. Damian immediately pulled away from his father and enveloped his mother in a tight hug. She hugged him back with a smile. "I missed you too Dami!"

"Thalia, I have the strong feeling that you're not here for Damian." Tim said. "This is about Jason."

"What do you know?" Bruce asked. Thalia gave him a sad smile and set down her child. "Thalia, please... this is my son's life and I know that look. What has The Joker done to him?"

Thalia sighed. "I was walking in the woods. I was going to give some food to my father. But I saw The Joker approaching me, and he spoke to me like we we're just friends. And then I saw what he was carrying in his cart. Well, who he was carrying."

"Jay." Dick whispered with a scowl.

"Correct my prince." Thalia said, rubbing one of her many rings that rested on her slim fingers. "But something was off about him. And I know the symptoms better than anyone."

"Symptoms?" Tim said. "What symptoms?"

"He was thrashing in the cart from his restrains. They were thin lassos, easy to break but he looked like they were the most heaviest thing that could hold a man. He was dressed in nothing but undergarments and his eyes... his eyes were bright green."

"Bright green? That's impossible Thalia, Jason has teal eyes. I can notice them from a mile away." Bruce said. He crossed his arms and looked at her. "What happened?"

"I've told you about my father, and the rumors of his cult." Thalia said. Bruce remembered. He knew from one of their many nights during her pregnancy when she told him about her father, the infamous Raj's Al Ghul. He was apart of this kind of a magical cult that was rumored to use magic against or with the beasts in the woods. If this cult rumor was true, then what the hell happened to Jason? Dick noticed his adoptive father's struggle to respond and he pressed his hand comfortably on his shoulder. He spoke for him.

"Are you suspecting that Jason is under some sort of spell?" he asked.

"I believe so. But with what my father does I think that it is more than just a spell. Jason looked in complete agony. And from what I've seen him do, I believe that Jason was killed."

Bruce felt the entire world stop. His knees became weak and everything seemed to shift in slow motion. No. No... he... he can't be gone. Bruce was looking for him. He was looking for Jason! He couldn't be gone! No! Not yet, not now! Not after everything he promised him! Not after the promises of protection and love! No! Bruce felt two hands on his own and he saw Thalia standing in front of him. She was staring at the older king sympathetically.

"Bruce... calm down. Don't panic." Bruce heard Damian say.

"How could I when your mother tells me that your brother, my son was murdered!" Bruce cried, shoving his hands back and turning away. "After everything... everything that's happened... Thalia, was he in pain? Was he in pain when he was dying?"

Thalia looked down at the ground sadly. "He looked like he was living the most painful experience ever my king." Bruce growled and turned his head. Thalia moved forward and took his hands again. "But let me finish. I think that Jason died... but my father and his cult reanimated him."

"That's impossible Thalia." Dick said, moving his head up. "Don't try to give false hope now when our brother has been stripped from us."

"It's true." she said. "Magic is impossible and so are the beasts that roam our woods. Why wouldn't this be possible too?"

"Even if what you're saying is completely true, why would Joker and your father do this?" Bruce said.

"Why else?" Tim added stepping in. "It's a cruel form of torture. Killing him again and again and again? Until be possibly breaks to the point where we can't put him back together?"

Bruce nodded. They would do anything to get to him. Anything including torturing the innocent prince of Gotham. "Where is this cult that you speak of? Where could I find it?"

"My father's motto for this little group is that you can't find them. They find you." Thalia said. "There's no way that you can use them to find Jason."

"Then why did you spew us this bullcrap information if it has nothing to do with locating Jason?" Dick yelled. And then the room was loud. Shrieking with noise. The glass windows inside the throne room shattered, glass falling everywhere as if it was snow. Bruce immediately went into protection move, moving forward and covering Thalia as his son's protected each other. Dick and Tim moved in almost perfect unison, grabbing Damian and holding him down. Bruce looked up when he felt the glass stop falling down. His hand went to his sword and he stood up, looking for the attacker. If it was The Joker he would not let him take another one of his children away from him. Jason was enough.

The king met eyes with the intruder inside the palace. A knight. Dressed in dark black armor that would camouflage perfectly with the night. It would match the night outside, but the dark blue sky was beginning to turn purple as the sun was rising. The knight wore a helmet the color a bright, bright red to match the red cape flapping behind him. Bruce held his sword out to the knight in black and red. "Halt in the name of the king!" he yelled.

"I only halt in the name of my master." the knight replied, the voice was distorted. No one could get a remembrance on the sound. He raised his ax and patted it in his gloved hand. Bruce kept his sword held up high at the man, needing to be strong and protect his children. The knight slowly started to approach the king before pulling out something from his armor. A parchment, not a weapon thank goodness, it was a letter. The knight handed the note to the king. Bruce snatched it from him.

"What the hell is this?" Bruce asked as Dick and Tim moved closer to him to see it.

"My master instructs me to have you read the note aloud." the kinght said.

"And what if I refuse?"

"Do you want your prince to suffer more? I will gladly send the next blow to his head."

Bruce growled at the man and then pulled off the ribbon that held the rolled paper together. Bruce didn't even have to read the first word to know who had written it. It was Jason's handwriting. The simple print that looked like it was written by the scribes. He looked at up the knight and watched as he patted his ax on his hand. Tim and Dick noticed their father's hesitation for reading, and with this mercenary knight standing in front of them they needed to hurry up and do as he asked. It was their lives on the line and Jason's. Damian moved forward and rubbed his father's arm while Dick pried the paper from his hands. "I'll read it." he said before looking down at the paper and then up at the knight. "Will that satisfy you and your master?"

"It will." the knight said. "Read the note Prince Richard."

Dick looked down at the note. "Dear father and brothers, I am writing this letter to inform you that I am alright. Physically no, mentally no, but all and all I will perservere. As long as I do as I am told I will not be harmed any more as long as you what you are ordered, I will not be harmed. Stay strong, I know you will come for me... Jason."

"What have you done to our brother?" Tim yelled.

"It is not what I have done, it is what my master is done. And from who is here, it is also what the Al Ghul has done." the knight.

Bruce stepped closer to the knight, adrenaline rushing and he needing to do anything to get ahead of this knight and get to his child. "What are your demands?"

"It is not my demands it is my-"

"Your masters demands, we get it!" Damian yelled at him, before being pulled back by his mother.

"You stand before the king of Gotham and I order you to tell me the demands of your master before I slice you neck in half!" Bruce yelled. The knight slowly walked closer to Bruce and let the tip of the sword pressed against his chest plate. Bruce kept his sword held high.

"You are not my king. I don't answer to the likes of you, a man that couldn't protect his own son from being kidnapped. I answer to my master and only to my master. You want to kill me, kill me... but your son will suffer. Dying and coming back to life surely must be painful." the knight said.

Bruce forced his hand down and moved to put his sword back inside of his sheath. "What does your so called master want from me?"

"My master requests that you capture the vigilante knight." the knight said. "He wants The Batman delivered to him and the prince will be sent back safe and sound."

"And how should he know to believe you? After all your master kidnapped my brother." Dick growled.

"Choose what you will, I cannot convince you to believe what I said about my master but maybe you'll believe me after that note. After all, you all seem to notice the prince's handwriting. It could be forged. It could be real. But who knows truly. Maybe you should just keep your royal mouths shut for once and do as you're told. After all, we wouldn't want anything to happen to the princes. Or his he really a prince? After all he wasn't born into royal blood. He's always been a young boy living in the dirtiest parts of the village that got beaten by his father."

Dick froze. He knew that phrase. He knew who had said those words. And Bruce knew that too. They both had heard that said by the one and only wayward son. Dick moved forward. "Jason?" he said holding back a sob.

The knight stayed still before moving his hand up and pulling off the red armored helmet. The boy that they had been looking for was standing right there in front of them. Jason. His eyes were now a bright radioactive green, his black hair has a white tip on the top. Bruce moved forward. "Jason..."

"It's Red Hood." Jason growled. "That's what I'm called so I suggest you use it. But hey Bruce... I'm still here. I'm still the same old Jason that you raised from the ground up, only this time everything's out in the open. Everything that I kept hidden deep, deep inside of this feeble weak body that's been marred by torture and mistrust... is still here. I'm still right here, where I've always been. Except this time, I'm not sobbing my eyes out in a cell, begging for the pain to cease and for my fake royal family to come and rescue me and bring me back home."

"Whatever spell that you're forced under I swear I will break it and I will break Joker for doing this to you." Bruce growled.

"Joker hasn't done anything to me!" Jason yelled, looking over at Thalia. "You know the ways to the waters that brought be back. You know.

Thalia nodded, pulling her son closer to her. Jason slowly made his way over to Damian and knelt down in front of him. He removed one of his armored gloves and raised his hand, cupping his chin under neath his hand. Damian looked into the now soulless eyes that belonged to his brother. To the one that taught him how to use a spear in case on an emergency. The one that taught him how to walk when he was just a baby. The one that cared for him the most except for their father. Jason looked at Damian and smiled.

"Jay?" Damian gasped.

"Hello Dami. I was so afraid that you were hurt." Jason said before standing and looking at Thalia. "Ms. Al Ghul. You know how the pits work. You know about those drops."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bruce boomed. "Thalia, what his he going on about?"

"I'm going on about the pits that rose me from the dead. The pits that made me this way. Once you come out from death, you're confused, broken, a shell of yourself. You're still there but your slowly slipping away and the pain and hurt and everything that's gone wrong in your life is slowly eating inside of you and snaking it's way inside of you. Until you take one last drop of the waters and you swallow. And then... suddenly-" Jason raised his hands to head and indicated an explosion. "Everything makes sense. Everything that happened makes sense. I understand know why master rescued me."

"Joker is not your master and he did not rescue you!" Tim yelled.

"Didn't he? I've been living a lie to moment I stepped foot inside of this palace. Master saved me from making a grave mistake and he saved from the pain that I lived through in the damned palace. My master made me see what was in front of all along. That I don't and never have belonged here! That you never cared about me. That you never loved me."

"Bullshit we all love you!" Dick cried.

"If you loved me than you would have saved me from death. But you didn't. I was killed and you were nowhere near me to rescue me from that unsavory fate. You and I must have celebrated when I was murdered. Because you never loved me. None of you."

"Stop this! Stop it now!" Bruce yelled, grabbing Jason's wrists. The younger man pulled his hands free and pulled out his ax, pressing it softly against the soft and comfortable flesh of the kings neck. Bruce stopped moving and held his hands up. Dick and Tim moved to help but Bruce held up his hand, telling them not to alarmed or try to help. Bruce looked into the eyes of his son. Jason's eyes were cold and heartless.

"I will be leaving as soon as I remove my ax from your neck." he said. "I will inform my master that our meeting was successful and you _will_ deliver him The Batman in at least a fortnight."

"And what if I don't?" Bruce growled.

Jason shrugged slyly and grinned. "Who knows? Master will still hurt me if you fail to comply."

"We won't let Joker hurt you Jason okay?" Tim called. "We will get you out of there, I promise."

Jason looked at everyone. "If you ever cared... you would have found me before I died. But it's too late for that. It's too late for everything. Get my master what he wants or I will carve into my own stomach with my own blade."

Bruce exhaled through his nose. "No matter what those waters did to you, you will always be my son. The one in my head. My angel child."

"Our brother." Damian added.

Jason eyed all over the throne room and then made eye contact with Bruce. "I take my leave now King Bruce."

Jason removed the ax and walked towards the broken windows of the throne room. Bruce looked out to his son. "I will find you again Jason! I will get you back!"

Jason pulled his helmet back on and jumped out of the window. Bruce looked over at his children. Bruce shook his head and ran out the window as well. "Bruce no!" screamed the only female in the room as Bruce jumped out. He looked out as the sun started to rise high and see Jason running. Bruce took off with him, needing to catch his child and get him help that he needs. To save him from the man that he called his master. From the man that kidnapped him. Bruce was running to chase his son after everything that had happened. He needed to get to his child. He grabbed a loose cobblestone from the palace wall and threw it at his son's back. He fell down and Bruce jumped on top of him, grabbing him and holding his wrists down.

"Stop this, stop this now Jay! Look at me! Look at me son, please!"

Jason hurled his knee up, knocking the wind out of Bruce and slamming him down onto the ground, grabbing his neck and seizing the air from his lungs. "I am not your angel child! That's Dick! I am not your son! That's Damian! And I am not the one in your head! That's Tim! I was never yours and you never seemed to care about me until I was saved from this hell hole you call a palace."

Bruce slapped his son's arms to get him to let go but his adopted son's grip tightened around Bruce's throat. "Ja... son..."

"Red Hood... remember the name and the face. Because when my master finally becomes king... I will be right by his side as the real prince that I was meant to be." Jason growled, letting Bruce go and standing up. Bruce hurled over and took in many deep breaths as he could. Jason ran off and Bruce lost his child again. Bruce growled and slammed his fist onto the ground.

* * *

 _ **Late update, yeah I know I'm sorry. Hope you enjoyed.**_


	6. Chapter Six

_**I apologize for the wait and inconvenience. I know it's been months. Sorry. Now please enjoy your flight on the Whump Jason.**_

* * *

When Bruce had come back, he had bruises around his neck, face and cheeks. Of course, everyone inside of the palace knew that it was from Jason. Thalia sat Bruce down on his throne as the servants tended to the bruises. Bruce couldn't meet the eyes of his son's. Not after what had just happened and not after what Jason had told him. As the servants pressed ice onto the bruises, Bruce thought to what Jason had told him. Jason said how everything was out in the open. Jason said how he was never Bruce's son and he was never cared about. Bruce wanted to scream. He wanted to scream out and kill The Joker for what he had done to his son.

Dick watched his adoptive father with complete and utter worry in his eyes. He wanted to know what Jason had said. He wanted to know everything. Bruce gave a smile to his servants, telling them that their job was done. "Please take my guest back home first thing tomorrow morning. I don't want the beasts to get to her."

"Of course my king." one of the servants said with a bow. "Shall I call for Leslie to come and check on you."

"No, don't bother her. I'll be fine." Bruce said. "Please take Thalia to one of the guest rooms and set up a horse for her first thing tomorrow morning."

"Of course my king." said all three of the servants in unison. They walked over to Thalia and led her over to the throne room's exit. As she was walked off, she turned to Bruce and gave him an apologetic frown. Bruce passed it off and looked back down at the ground. Dick met eyes with Tim and Damian. They both looked as worried as he did. Tim had tears in his eyes. Dick walked over and patted his brother's back.

"Go on and get some rest. You've been up for hours." Dick said.

"But what about Jay?" Tim asked.

"Grayson will make sure that we find him." Damian said. "Come on. Let's get you to sleep before you pass out or break down crying."

Tim sighed and nodded. He turned over to Dick and gave him a warm hug. "I love you." he said. "If anything that Jason said taught me is that I am not going to miss saying that."

Dick smiled and hugged his brother back. "I love you too Timmy. Now... go on. Get some sleep. I'll wake you up first thing in the morning." Tim nodded and walked off. Dick looked down at Damian. "You should go see your mom."

"Grayson-" Damian tried to argue, but he didn't have one. He did really want to speak with his mother. Damian nodded and hugged his older brother as well. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Dami." Dick said, squeezing him a bit tighter. Damian pulled away and lightly punched his brother's chest. He walked off right behind his other brother. Dick turned over to Bruce, who still wasn't making eye contact with him. Dick sighed and walked over to his father's throne. "Bruce... what happened out there?"

Bruce still didn't look up to look at his son. "Jason. He's... he's under something." he said.

"That doesn't answer my question." Dick said back. "What happened out there?"

Bruce sighed. He pulled off the ice from his head and let it fall down to the ground. Bruce got up and moved to walk away from his son. Dick was not going to just let his father walk off and leave. He moved over and grabbed him. "Dick... get off." he growled.

"Tell me what the fuck happened in those woods!" Dick screamed. "That's my brother!"

"AND MY SON!" Bruce screamed. He sighed and shook his head. "Not like I ever treated him like my child."

Bruce slammed his back against the wall and leaned down onto the floor. Dick walked over to him. "You treated him better than anyone."

"Did I? Fuck off Dick, don't lie. You know that I didn't." Bruce said. "I never showed him my care and attention."

Dick angrily, grabbed his adoptive father and pulled him up from the wall. He pointed his finger at him. "Listen to me and listen good! You did care about Jason! You loved him! Even more than me and everyone else inside of this palace!"

"Dick..." Bruce tried to say, but was silenced.

"NO! You listen to me! You gave Jason a home! You gave Jason a life! When he was going to be used as a pleasure slave for monsters! He was going to be abused! He was going to die! Only God knows what the monsters and their riders were going to do to him! You gave him a home! You loved him! You gave him a chance when no one else did! You helped him grow up into who he is now! Look at him! If it wasn't for you... Jason wouldn't be here with us! Jason would be gone! Jason would... would be... would-"

Dick pulled himself away from Bruce, covering his mouth with his hand. Bruce walked over to him. "Dick." he called.

Dick turned around to face him. Tears were in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. "No, Bruce..."

"Dick, look at me. We will get him back. We will rescue Jason." Bruce said.

"It's not that." Bruce responded. "It's the fact that you said that you didn't give Jason any love. When you gave him the most."

Bruce took a step away. Dick was right. Bruce gave Jason everything. Bruce adored Jason. He rescued him from the fate of a pleasure slave. He gave him a home. He fed him, held him during the nightmares. Loved him like he was his own child. Bruce did his best and gave his all. Jason was wrong. He did care. Jason wasn't thinking right. Even though he was always depressed and always taking about not belonging, he never said he hated anyone. He loved them all. That meant that something was up with him. The Joker had to have done something to make him believe that he didn't love him. Bruce loved him. Adored him. And Bruce never let a day go by since he rescued Jason, without him knowing that he loved him.

Jason was under some sort of spell. And as he said, he said The Joker had done something to him. He wasn't in the right mind set. And Bruce was going to avenge his son. He was going to bring him back here to the palace and do everything in his power to make sure he turns back to normal. Bruce growled and turned back to his eldest son.

"Dick... your brothers, you and I are going to bring Jason back." he said. "And I'll be damned if I don't let him know that he is loved when he's back in our arms."

Dick wiped his tears. Bruce walked over to him and smiled. He wiped his tears with his thumb. Dick wiped his eyes and nodded.

"What do I have to do? What do we have to do?" Dick asked.

"Firstly, we won't get anything done if we're sleep deprived. Trust me, I know from experience." Bruce said with a smile. "You head on over to bed."

"Bruce..."

"No Dick. Please... trust me. Just head to bed and get a little bit of sleep. You've been up all day and all night."

Dick nodded. "Okay."

Bruce snapped his fingers and a few of his servants walked inside. They bowed to their king and their prince. "Please accompany Prince Dick to his bedroom. Make sure that he is comfortable."

"Yes my king." the servants said in unison. One of them held out her hand to Dick. Dick turned to Bruce.

"I love you Bruce." Dick said, taking the servants arms and walking out of the throne room. Bruce turned away from his child and sat down on his throne. The doors opened again and inside walked his captain and his knights,

"My king." Captain Gordon said with a bow. "You look exhausted. Are you alright?"

"I am... I am okay. I'm just tired." Bruce said. "It's been a long night."

"We were unable to locate the man that broke into the throne room earlier." one of the knights said.

"That is fine." Bruce said. "Just do your best to find him."

"Yes my king." the knight said.

Bruce got up from his throne. "I... I need some sleep. You will please but my right hand in charge while I sleep."

"I will contact Alfred." Captain Gordon said with a smile.

Bruce smiled back, rubbing his head as he walked over to the door. He left the room walked all the way over to his bedroom. Bruce walked inside and slowly closed the door behind him. It seemed like it took ten years for him to reach his bed and lay down on in it. He crawled all the way over to his pillows and slammed his head onto them. He sighed loudly. His eyelids drooping and drooping.

 _If my son is hurt even more than I believe, I'll make sure that you can never walk again,_ Bruce thought as sleep finally over took him.

* * *

When Jason came back from the palace to The Joker's hideout, he was immediately grabbed by his henchmen. The young prince groaned as his weapons and helmet stripped away from him and his arms were wretched behind his back. He thought that he pain would have gone away after saying all of those terrible, terrible things to his family. Jason didn't want to say it, but he was only half in control. It was him, but it wasn't. Especially when he attacked Bruce. Jason wanted to cry. The henchmen chained Jason's wrists together and pulled him inside of the hideout.

Jason tried and tried to pull and pull at his restrains, but there was still the internal pain from being dipped inside of The Lazarus Pit. The henchmen dragged Jason to the same cell that he had been inside. They kept his chains on, for reason that only God knows. They aggressively threw him inside of the room and slammed the door shut. Jason groaned, forcing himself off of the floor. He jumped, moving his hands in front of him. There was no way of escape this time. Jason walked over to the small bed in the corner and sat down. Jason wanted to die. He had been forced to attack his loved ones. His brothers. And say things that he would never ever say. Why would he do that? Why did he allow himself to do that? He could have told Bruce or Dick or Tim or Damian that he was being held hostage and he would have been opened to unimaginable pain if he said the truth.

The young prince put his head in his hands and sobbed. Jason just wanted to go home. He wanted his brothers. He wanted Bruce. He wanted to go home. Jason shook his head, swinging his leg over the bed and laying down. He was exhausted. He just wanted sleep. He wanted everything to be over with. Jason was close to passing out from his tears when there was a knock at his cell door. Jason looked up and saw a plate pushed through the window.

"Eat." said the voice of his captor.

Jason got up and walked over to the plate. He picked it up, looked at the food on it and then looked at The Joker. The Joker had that same smile on his face. Jason smiled back, before frowning angrily and throwing the plate across the room. The plate shattered and the eggs and meat splattered all over the wall. Jason slammed his fists against the door.

"YOU MONSTER!" Jason yelled. "You made me say all of those horrible things to my family! It's because of you!"

"You are welcome Jay-Jay!" Joker said.

"Fuck you!" Jason yelled.

"I'm good thanks. But you should get some rest Jay-Jason. Because you and I are going to wreak havoc on Gotham."

Jason shook his head, sitting back down on his head. He covered his head in his hands again and wiped his eyes. The Joker smiled, seeing him here. As his prisoner. He smiled widely. Joker smiled.

"Please God... please God." Jason whispered.

"Please... there is no God. No one is coming for you." Joker said. "But I am happy to announce that there is a friend here."

Jason immediately moved over at the sound of that. No. Had The Joker kidnapped someone else. Someone innocent. Please tell him no. "No! Why?! What's wrong with you?! Why would you kidnap someone! They're innocent!"

Joker rolled his eyes. "Please... something needs to make me laugh when you're off magically doing my bidding."

Jason jumped out of the small bed and ran over to the window on his cell door. He watched Joker move to the side and his henchmen haul in someone else. He looked his age, maybe a few months older, dressed in bloody rag with a sack covering his head. Jason stepped back as his cell door was opened. The henchmen threw in the man. He yelled out in pain, but it was muffled. Jason ran over to the new prisoner and held him gently.

"You're a fucking monster." Jason said through gritted teeth.

"Oh Jason!" The Joker said as the door as slammed shut again. "You're gonna make me blush!"

The Joker laughed manically, making the new prisoner shake with fear. Jason pulled him close to his chest so that he understood that he was safe with him. The Joker walked away, his laugh echoing in the halls. Jason turned over and started to untie the man to the best of ability with his hands chained. He yanked off the rope and pulled the sack off of his head. A mess of red hair fell loose.

"Hey, hey, easy." Jason said, pulling out the huge wadded cloth shoved inside his mouth. The man coughed as soon as it was free. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine. I'm..." the man looked up and his eyes widened. "P-Prince Jason? Oh my God..."

Jason nodded. "Yeah... yeah, that's me."

"Oh my." the man said, heading on his knees and bowing.

"No, no. Don't do that. You don't have to bow for me." Jason said, leaning back against the wall. "What's your name?"

"I'm Roy."

"How did they get to you?"

"I was trying to get to my cabin in the woods. It was sunrise, so I thought that I'd be safe. But then... the monster grabbed me and dragged me over here." Roy said with a sigh.

"What were you doing out so late?" Jason asked.

"I was hunting. It's pretty much what I have to do to provide for myself and my..."

"Do you have a significant other?"

"I do." Roy whispered. "But I don't want The Joker to hear... if he hurts her, I-"

"He won't. I'll help you get out of here." Jason said determined.

"My prince, this man... he's crazy."

"And he'll use me to kill everyone I love if I don't kill him or help him escape. He might be crazy, but he's not as smart as I am. My father raised me well."

"Father? You mean... King Bruce."

Jason froze for a minute. Did he mean Bruce? Yes. Yes he did. He did raise him well. It was Bruce. Bruce.

"Yes." Jason said. "He raised me well. He taught me how to help people around me. He taught me how to escape if things happened like this. I will help you and I escape. You'll get back to your significant other and I'll get back to my family. Okay?"

Roy nodded. "Okay? What do I do?"

"You don't have to do anything, yet." Jason said. "But you do have to write."

* * *

 _ **Here's the thing right. I have a severe cause of writer's block on certain aspects. Sometimes I write a story that I have outline for, that I have all mapped out and ready... and then my brain goes on a three month shut down. I'm sorry for all those that were waiting for months. I will try (keyword: try) to update this story at least once a month. Maybe once or twice a month. I'll try though.**_

 _ **Thank for not losing hope and I hope to see you all soon.**_


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